


That Kind Of Girl

by miera



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-23
Updated: 2009-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-03 15:50:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 55,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU story where Elizabeth Weir is an attorney in Denver who has a chance encounter with two fireman, John Sheppard and Cameron Mitchell, that ends up changing her life. Contains both threesome sex as well as multiple background pairings of both het and slash varieties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Elizabeth met John Sheppard and Cameron Mitchell, she'd been in town for less than 48 hours, there was a torrential thunderstorm going on and her car, which had faithfully gotten her three-quarters of the way across the continent from D.C. to Colorado, was totaled.

The cross-country move, the new job, the bitter destruction of her relationship with Simon, all that wasn't enough, the universe had to literally hit her with a car accident. She never even saw the SUV coming. Suddenly her car was moving sideways and glass was shattering and the airbag deployed and knocked her into the headrest so hard she saw spots and pain flared through her neck and shoulders.

Minutes passed while she wondered why she couldn't see very well, and horrible sounds were screeching in her ears, and then someone opened the car door.

"Are you okay?" a dark-haired man shouted over the thunder and the rain. Light was flickering over his face in a strange way she couldn't explain. He was wearing a uniform but she couldn't make out anything beyond that.

She tried to shake her head but agony hit her at the move and she whimpered. "No," she bit out over the tears welling in her eyes.

He took hold of one of her hands. "You will be. Listen to me. Can you reach down and unbuckle your seat belt?"

Her hands were shaking, but the stranger's fingers were warm and solid. She managed to fumble and get the catch of the seatbelt open. Then he put an arm around her shoulders and hurriedly guided her out of the car.

She was soaked to the skin in seconds. Her legs were wobbling badly and she wanted to collapse, but he had an arm around her waist and he tugged insistently, forcing her to take step after shaking step farther and farther away from the car and the loud noises behind them.

Finally they reached a curb and he stopped. Elizabeth gingerly turned herself around and froze in shock. Her car was on fire, not far from being totally engulfed, in spite of the rain.

Her legs gave out. Her rescuer grabbed at her as she fell, steadying her but she sat down hard onto the wet concrete. Dazed, she was only peripherally aware that he sat down next to her.

She wasn't sure how much time passed, but while Elizabeth shivered and fought through what she numbly suspected was the first stages of shock, the man next to her was examining her for injuries. He tilted her head up, checking her eyes and she thought he was taking her pulse at one point, but the world seemed to be fuzzing in and out like a weak radio signal. She was aware that a fire truck and police cars arrived, and that the firemen doused the flames from the accident.

She was staring blankly at the smoldering wreckage of her car when she heard, "Sheppard!" Another man was approaching, his silhouette outlined dimly in the rain. "You all right over here?"

The man next to her answered with a nod, putting an arm around her to help ease the trembling in her limbs. "Yeah, but bring the kit, would you?" he hollered back. "Got some cuts over here."

The other man disappeared, but Elizabeth tilted her head and looked up into hazel eyes. Distantly she noted how the rain ran down his face, highlighting the angles of his cheekbones and jaw. She licked her lips and swallowed a bit of the rain, wincing as she got a taste of her own blood. "Sheppard?" she repeated to him dimly.

"John Sheppard," he said, brushing back a wet strand of her hair away from her eyes. "I usually mention that first before I canoodle with a pretty lady."

She paused, staring at him blankly. "Did you just say canoodle?"

"It's a word," he protested in a slightly dorky fashion, which was a feat to pull off considering he had just saved her life.

Before she could respond, the other man was jogging over to the curb carrying a large first aid case. He dropped to a knee in front of her, and Elizabeth took in his appearance with a quick glance. He was bigger than John, with broad shoulders and blue eyes, and she realized they were both wearing uniforms from the fire department.

Absurdly, especially under the conditions, she found herself thinking only one thing: It wasn't her imagination that they were both ridiculously handsome men, right? That wasn't the fireman appeal being played up?

The other man flashed a sideways glance at the arm wrapped around her shoulders. "You gotta give 'em some time for the shock to wear off, Shep. A chance to fend off your advances, you know?"

"Shut up, Mitchell," John muttered with a roll of his eyes. "And say hello to…"

He left it hanging, but it took Elizabeth a second to catch on and remember herself. "Elizabeth. Elizabeth Weir."

"Cameron Mitchell," came the response from in front.

Cameron's eyes dropped down to the cut below her lips. He reached out and lifted her chin carefully, discreetly dabbing at the painful slice while John held onto her. She winced against the sting, but vaguely, almost idly, Elizabeth realized she hadn't gotten this much special attention from men since… she couldn't quite remember, and decided it was best left without attempt.

They tended to her other obvious injuries as the rain lightened. Cameron spoke to her as he worked. "Elizabeth, I'm going to ask you some questions, okay? Do you know where you are?"

"Denver, Colorado."

"And what day is it?"

That one was harder. "Thursday?"

John ran a hand down her arm. "Yep. Never did get the hang of Thursdays, myself."

Cameron rolled his eyes. Elizabeth started to turn towards John but the pain in her neck made her hiss. The two men exchanged glances and John got up. She missed the warmth against her side immediately.

Cameron gamely tried to distract her. "Don't get him started on Thursdays. He's got this whole theory. I think he even made a pie chart or something."

She laughed a little and then had to swipe at her nose because she was suddenly crying. She hadn't cried at anything since her father died, not even while her life disintegrated over the last six months. Now here she was, on the side of the road while other cars crept slowly past so people could gawk at the wreckage, sniffling like a toddler.

"Hey," Cameron took hold of her hands. "Shh, it's okay. You're all right, Elizabeth."

At any other time, she thought his voice would send shivers down her spine. For now, she held on tightly and listened to the sirens of the ambulance arriving. "How is the other guy?"

Cameron hesitated and she knew as soon as she looked into his eyes what he was going to say. "He's dead."

She raised her head, looking towards the SUV automatically, but Cameron's hand cupped her cheek and pulled her back. "Don't look. You don't want to see. I'm pretty sure he was drunk, Elizabeth. He wasn't wearing a seat belt."

John reappeared, an EMT behind him with a gurney. A cop came over and she realized as she listened that John and Cameron had just happened to be driving past when they saw the accident, which was how they reached her so quickly. They stayed with her, Cameron's thumbs stroking gently over the backs of her hands while she gave a statement to the police officer, then John put an arm around her shoulders again. "Come on, Elizabeth. Let's get you to the hospital."

She let them help her onto the gurney and lie down while the medics checked her over, but she was fretting. "I don't have my insurance card yet. I just started a new job-"

"Don't worry about that right now," Cameron said firmly. "Just lie still. Everything is going to be all right, I promise."

The tears started to threaten again, and Elizabeth did as she was told, drawing in deep breaths and staring at the ceiling of the ambulance. A few minutes went by, then Cameron handed something to John, who set it on her lap.

It was her purse. Cameron had gone and fetched it out of her destroyed car.

Elizabeth gave up and let the tears flow down her face.

One of the EMTs was a young woman with red hair pulled back in a pony tail. She glanced from Elizabeth to John and then leaned out the doors. Elizabeth had one of the plastic collars strapped around her neck now, keeping her immobile, and she couldn't see what happened for a few minutes.

Then John was there, climbing into the ambulance and sitting alongside her. "Elizabeth, I'm going to ride along to the hospital with you, if that's okay?"

He made it sound like he was asking her for a favor instead of doing one and she snuffled, trying to swallow the tears and something else that was clogging her throat. In the end she could only nod.

John took hold of one of her hands as the ambulance started to move.

The ride blended and blurred, later becoming nothing more distinct in Elizabeth's head as a memory of John looming over her and relaying questions from the EMT as the ambulance bounded down the highway. The tremors in from the adrenalin still wracked her body, but eventually the tears stemmed, and his hand was the only sensation she wanted to register.

"Your car had an out-of-state license plate," John commented, almost casually.

"I'm new in town."

New town. New apartment. New job. Elizabeth was desperately trying to establish a new life in Colorado, as her old one had imploded rather spectacularly over the last few months. Though judging by the way this attempt was beginning, maybe she shouldn't hold her breath and expect anything better? The thought made her want to cry all over again.

John tried to keep her talking. "What do you do?"

"What?"

"For a living."

"I'm a lawyer," Elizabeth murmured, wiping at her eyes. Then louder: "Over at Isaac, Oliver and Anderson."

John let free a low whistle. "IOA," he whispered appreciatively. "Big firm, right?"

It was a job other lawyers would have killed for. Elizabeth had reluctantly accepted it.

Before she could say anything further, they arrived at the hospital, and John let her go and disappeared. The ambulance medics maneuvered her into the emergency room and alongside a desk. Elizabeth answered a few questions from one of the nurses, her eyes fluttering closed against her will. It was so very bright inside.

After several minutes or possibly hours, she wasn't sure, John came over and patted her arm. "They'll take care you, Elizabeth," John assured.

Belatedly, when John pulled his hand free, she realized this was where they separated. The realization left her feeling bereft, cold. She felt unwilling to part from him just yet, but she didn't really have a choice.

She started being rolled away, but Elizabeth panicked. "Wait, wait!" she tried to stop them in a desperate voice. "No. Wait!" John seemed to be by her bedside in a flash, sensing her terror. She licked her lips, and then recklessly started digging through her purse, searching for something.

"Ma'am," one of the nurses tried, "we have to move you--"

"Just a second!" she insisted, and then emerged with her old attorney-at-law card. The work number was useless, but her cell phone number was still valid. She slipped it into John's hands just as they started rolling her away again, ignoring any protests she could have mounted. "John?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she mouthed silently, but she knew the message was received loud and clear because John waved back, a small smile curving his lips. Then she was pulled past the doors into the patient area. The last glimpse she got of John was him still soaked from the rain, card clutched in one hand as he stared after her.

*~*~*~*

The pretty little woman introduced herself as Dr. Fraiser. She checked Elizabeth's eyes with a pen light, took her pulse, ordered an IV and x-rays all before Elizabeth could take two breaths.

Elizabeth remained quiet as she was wheeled for the x-rays and only flinched a little when they stuck the IV in her arm. She struggled her way through the small mountain of paperwork the hospital required. When she was finally alone, her mind was spinning helplessly, so she let it drift back to her two rescuers. Maybe she was looking at this accident the wrong way. Two hot medics, both of them wet, coming to save her? How often did that happen?

They were probably not nearly as handsome when she wasn't in shock, she thought ruefully.

Dr. Fraiser flew back into Elizabeth's little curtained-off cubicle after an eternity. "The good news is nothing's broken," she said, peering up at the x-ray films.

"What's the bad news?"

"You've definitely got a bad case of whiplash, and from what I heard your car is a total loss." Elizabeth sighed and the doctor put a comforting hand on her arm. "Then again, you're lucky to be walking away from this at all. I've seen accidents like this before that didn't end so well for the victim."

Victim. The word rolled around in her head, making Elizabeth squirm. "So when can I get out of here?"

"We want to keep you a little longer for observation." The doctor checked the IV with a critical eye. "But then we'll release you."

Elizabeth started to nod and then stopped at the pain in her neck.

Dr. Fraiser looked down at her chart. She looked a bit hesitant. "Is there someone we can call? You didn't mention anyone as an emergency contact."

Elizabeth bit her lip, her eyes threatening to well up yet again. "No, there's no one." She swallowed. "No one local. Could I get some water?"

Dr. Fraiser frowned. "Of course."

*~*~*~*

Cameron finally finished with his paperwork for the evening. They'd been off-duty when they saw the accident with the SUV and the sedan happen right in front of them, and ridiculously enough, their being off-duty generated even more paperwork than normal. And then John had gone along to the hospital with the ambulance, leaving Cameron to deal with the forms and the questions from Jack O'Neill, the captain of their house, about the whole incident.

He always got stuck with the paperwork, and even after years of being suckered, he still couldn't quite figure out how John managed it.

As they had arranged at the scene, Cameron drove to the ER to pick John up. He found his partner talking to Janet Fraiser.

"Cameron," Janet said with a nod as Cameron shoved the forms requiring John's signature into his partner's hands. John looked unhappy and Janet had a worried expression on her face.

"What's up?"

John started signing papers. "The woman, Elizabeth, she just moved here, and Janet's about to release her."

"Dr. Fraiser, you wouldn't be violating federal law by giving out private information about a patient, would you?" Cameron said teasingly.

Janet glared. "I was just telling John that this woman has had a very bad day, and it seems like she could use someone to keep an eye on her and make sure she gets home all right." She shot a look at John, who conveniently kept his eyes glued to the paperwork in his hands. "And since John felt compelled to violate protocol to the point where he rode along in the ambulance to bring her here, I thought he might have a vested interest in the case."

John's ears turned red but he didn't say anything. Janet was right. It was odd for John to have left the accident scene to come with a complete stranger. Cadman and her partner were good medics and it wasn't like they wouldn't have cared for their patient. Cameron had been slightly surprised when John said he was going, but not as surprised as he should have been.

He remembered the way the woman - Elizabeth - had clung to his hands when she started to cry. It seemed like more than shock. More like she'd been holding something in for a long time and just couldn't take it any more.

And he could see by the expression on John's face that the protective instinct that made John come to the hospital in the first place hadn't faded. He sighed and mock-glared at Janet. "You are such a yenta."

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth tugged her jeans back on awkwardly, having trouble maneuvering with the whiplash collar around her neck. The cold denim was still damp and enormously uncomfortable. But she was almost out of the hospital, and she just had to survive the cab ride back to her apartment. Then, she promised herself, she could fall apart completely, and take a long, hot shower.

"Elizabeth?" Dr. Fraiser called from outside the curtains. Elizabeth pulled them open and stopped in surprise.

"I'm sure you remember John and Cameron," the doctor said smoothly. The two men grinned at her and Elizabeth snapped her gaping mouth shut. She hadn't really expected to see either of them again, certainly not tonight. Dr. Fraiser handed Elizabeth an envelope with information and a small bottle of prescription painkillers. "I told them you were being released and they wanted to check up on you. Now, you take care of yourself!" She patted Elizabeth on the arm and headed off to her next emergency.

"How are you doing?" John asked.

She shrugged as much as she was able under the collar. "About like you'd figure."

Cameron took a step forward. "We were thinking, since your car is pretty much gone, you probably could use a ride home."

She blinked. "Oh. I can take a cab, it's okay."

"Come on, Elizabeth," John said in an almost wheedling tone. "It'll take who knows how long for the cab company to get here and then they'll overcharge you for the ride..." he waved a hand. "We can get you home faster. I'm sure you probably want food and a warm shower by now."

In spite of herself, Elizabeth's cheeks turned pink and then so did John's. Cameron chuckled at them both.

"He's right, Elizabeth."

Okay, now Cameron's voice was making her shiver for real. She hedged one last time, "I don't want to take you out of your way."

Cameron shook his head. "We're done for the day here, and my big plan was to hit the gym and then watch DVDs all night." He met her eyes and she had a sudden strong feeling, like she could trust this man with anything. "An extra half an hour out of my evening isn't going to hurt."

She knew he had said that deliberately, an unspoken answer to the logical hesitation she had about climbing into a car with two men she barely knew and telling them where she lived.

John chimed in, handing her her purse. "Besides, you don't want us to be worried about you all night, do you?"

She laughed a little at that and came to a decision. "Okay."

The three of them piled into Cameron's pick-up truck, John in the backseat making disparaging remarks about Cameron's musical tastes as she struggled to remember the correct directions to her apartment. They teased her a little when she got turned around, but it was companionable and she decided it was better that she wasn't being charged by the minute for these mistakes.

They dropped her off in front of her apartment building, leaving her with a pair of phone numbers and a threat of turning up on Saturday with pizza to make sure she wasn't overdoing it while she recovered. When Elizabeth turned the key in the deadbolt and let herself in, she flicked on the lights and looked around at the stacks of boxes and bare walls, but didn't feel nearly as depressed or hysterical as she had expected to be.

*~*~*~*

Whether due to exhaustion or the drugs or both, Elizabeth slept heavily through the night and then spent Friday in a bit of a haze. She managed to do some laundry and hang some clothes, but her neck and back protested fast and she ended up watching several movies on her newly-installed cable vacantly until she crawled into bed early Friday evening. The rest of her unpacking, not to mention replacing her car, was going to have to wait.

Saturday morning she was able to take off the whiplash collar and once that was done and she'd taken a long, hot shower, Elizabeth felt marginally human again, not to mention hungry for the first time in two days. She ate the last muffin and drank some coffee, wondering how she was going to manage to get to the grocery store without a car. She really hadn't needed that stress on top of everything else.

She was able to reach the rental car place, though, and early in the afternoon she was able to run to the nearest store and pick up some more basic items to get her through the next few days.

When she got home, Elizabeth took stock of her apartment. She was surrounded by a sea of boxes and furniture covered with more boxes. She'd gotten the bathroom set up the day she moved in and had gotten the kitchen functional but not finished. Thursday had been spent mostly on errands, at least until her car was totaled, so she hadn't made any further progress unpacking yet.

Her body was still easily tired, so she stuck with tidying the kitchen, since that didn't involve any heavy lifting. The furniture could wait until she wasn't on heavy-duty painkillers.

The destruction of her car right on the heels of paying the movers and buying a bunch of new items for the apartment made Elizabeth slightly dour as she tucked bowls and dishes into cupboards. But a couple days of rest (not to mention plenty of Vicodin) had done a lot for her perspective. Given that she was walking around and not dead, the crash could have been worse, and if push came to shove, she could always comfort herself with the fact that she may have even gotten a handful of friends out of it.

She suspected that a foolish crush had begun the moment she had met John and Cameron. Who could not succumb to that under the circumstances? But it was more than that. Firemen or not, heroes or not, it wasn't in either of their job descriptions to offer her a ride home and be so friendly. She thought back to the car ride home, about their easy banter with each other, about how both of them had tried their best at getting her to relax and laugh. Just remembering it got her lips to curve into a ghost of a smile.

If she never saw either one of them again, at least she had a juicy story to tell her friends back in D.C. Except Elizabeth was pretty confident that she was going to see both of them again, and probably sooner rather than later.

As if on cue, her doorbell rang. She pushed the speaker and said, "Hello?"

"Pizza delivery," came a slightly familiar voice.

"I don't recall ordering a pizza," she said back, her heart speeding up slightly.

"Consider it a welcome to the neighborhood present," came the response and in the background she heard another voice nagging, "I told you we should've called her first."

Laughing, Elizabeth pushed the buzzer to let them into the building and when she pulled open her front door to find John, Cameron and two pizza boxes, she grinned. "I was thinking about you two earlier."

Cameron smiled back. "Pleasant thoughts, I hope?"

She refrained from rolling her eyes, and then a slightly wicked impulse overtook her. "Actually, yes. I was just thinking about all the ways I could take shameless advantage of your well-toned muscles."

Cameron raised an eyebrow, but John poked his head in and saw all the boxes littered throughout the apartment. He groaned. "You're going to make us help you unpack, aren't you?"

"My heroes," she tossed over her shoulders as she stepped back and invited them in. "You can start with the living room furniture."

They came in, Cameron setting the pizza boxes down and John presented her with a couple bottles of soda. She was a little surprised it wasn't beer. She stashed it in the fridge and when she stood up, John was staring at her.

Before she could start to blush, though, he glared. "I thought Fraiser gave you a collar for the whiplash?"

Cameron stopped and stared at her as well and she fidgeted. "It itched. Besides, I'm feeling okay." All right so she'd been liberal in her use of the painkillers at lunch. And she had intended to put it back on once she sat down after her shower.

"I say we withhold pizza until she promises to put it back on later," Cameron said to John.

Dark hazel eyes looked at her in question and she sighed. "Fine."

They looked so smug Elizabeth had to contain the urge to smack them both. Or stick her tongue out. She settled for glaring and pointing towards the boxes in the dining room.

In thirty minutes they saved her several hours of tedious unpacking in her living room, and it was particularly a relief to have two men to do all the lifting and moving of heavy things while she directed them from a chair. They assembled the shelves she'd bought to hold her DVD collection. John shelved the movies, with a running commentary on her tastes, while Cameron broke down a bunch of boxes for her, so she wouldn't have to deal with that later. By the time they'd finished Elizabeth had eaten two large slices of pizza and was feeling pleasantly full.

She had her feet propped up on the extra chair when they sat down at the dining room table with her. Cameron glanced down at her slippers as he snagged a piece of pizza from the open box. "Nice bunnies," he said, deadpan.

John craned his neck to look, confused. Elizabeth waggled a foot and grinned cheekily at Cameron. "Thanks."

"So, is there anything else you need help with?" he asked.

There were more bookcases in need of assembling in the other room, but although the last few hours had been happy and relaxing, she wasn't quite ready to invite these two into her bedroom, even under completely innocent pretenses. The mere thought made her cheeks start to heat up and she strove to suppress the blush. "I think I'm good from here." She caught John eyeing her again and took a drink from her bottle of soda. "I have to arrange my books and things but I've got kind of a complicated system."

"Hey, I'll have you know I've known my alphabet since I was at least 10 years old," John said mockingly.

Cameron leaned on his elbows. "And you can do those things while sitting down and wearing the brace you got at the hospital," he said seriously.

She sighed, "Yes, dad."

He wasn't deterred by her sarcasm, though. "I mean it, Elizabeth. That accident we pulled you from was bad. You shouldn't be pushing yourself or you could end up in a lot of pain."

Elizabeth suddenly found it hard to swallow. Cameron was staring right at her, and the intensity of his gaze and his words made her heart beat in her throat. She darted a glance at John and saw he looked just as intent. She nodded slowly, "Okay."

Just like that they both relaxed and Cameron got up. "All right, then. We should probably leave you to arrange your potpourri jars or whatever you have to do."

John snickered and Elizabeth threw a napkin at him, "Hey, I'm not that kind of girl, okay?"

"What kind of girl are you, then?"

The racing heartbeat was back, along with goose bumps on her skin. But she looked at them both and shook her head. "You don't get to know until you buy me a dinner more expensive than pizza," she shot back.

 

*~*~*~*

She started her new job the following Monday.

It was strange that Elizabeth wasn't actually too nervous starting at a new place. By reputation, Isaac, Oliver and Anderson was one of the most competitive and lucrative law firms around. But she'd spent years in the shark-infested waters of Washington D.C., and she wasn't about to let herself get worked up over this new job in the same way. It was largely why she'd chosen Colorado as her new home. She prayed that the same frustrations wouldn't follow her cross country. She could handle the workload; it was the political backstabbing she could do without.

Though IOA wasn't exactly known for its friendly atmosphere. She'd heard a rumor or two about her new place of employment that raised some eyebrows, but she wasn't willing to put any credence into them until she had firsthand experience at the firm.

Another senior associate named Richard Woolsey greeted her at the door and showed her around the place. Of average appearance, with balding hair and glasses perched on a rather large nose, Elizabeth could tell within two minutes that Richard wasn't a man to suffer fools lightly. He was all business, and she could respect that, but there was a brisk manner about him that put her guard up from the get-go.

"Your office is down here," Richard said as they moved swiftly through the hallways of the elegant building. "We have a senior staff meeting in about two hours, but that's mostly to make your introduction and welcome you onboard. You'll bump into most of the attorneys by then as I imagine they're all curious to meet you."

Elizabeth put on her polite professional smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

"We've got an eccentric group here," Richard informed her. "I hope you can handle that."

Elizabeth thought she picked up a hint of disapproval, but it may have just been her imagination. "I'm sure I'll manage."

"Here we are," Richard announced when they reached her office.

Elizabeth walked in first and surveyed the space for a moment. It was elegant and sleek, with a large glass desk and a high-arched chair in the center of the room. Not her style but it was what you expected from a powerhouse law firm. There was the obligatory space left on the wall for her diplomas, and the desk was badly in need of a pleasant knickknack or two to go with the stack of folders already waiting for her, but the view through the clear glass window was breathtaking from this height. As she walked closer to the glass, Elizabeth took in the sight of a large portion of the city and the mountains and smiled. She had always been a sucker for a good view.

"It's wonderful," Elizabeth announced, turning back to Richard pleased.

He nodded briskly. "You've got two legal secretaries, Chuck and Peter. Some of our best. Your neighboring attorneys are…" he trailed off and paused, lips pursing in faint amusement. "Well, I'm sure you'll meet them soon enough and I've found words do them little justice." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but Richard was already turning away. "Get settled in. I hope you have a good first day."

And then he was out the door, leaving Elizabeth standing in her empty office without a backwards' glance. For a long moment afterwards, she wondered if she had offended Richard somehow, because he was acting like her presence here was largely over his protests. She knew that the job opening for her department had been a competitive slot. Perhaps his favored candidate had lost out to her.

No matter. If his issue was with her competence, that she could handle. If it wasn't, then it was his problem, not hers.

She slowly rounded the desk and settled onto the plush cushions of her chair, swiveling it a little to take in the outside view again. Her office in D.C. had looked out over an alley, and it had been about half the size of this one, due to space limitations.

At the very least, she had more room to breathe here, she thought, before turning to the stack of folders.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth quickly found out that her neighboring attorneys were considered the two oddball lawyers in the firm. To the left of her office was Vala Mal Doran, an attractive brunette who had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she introduced herself to Elizabeth. And to the right was Rodney McKay, a lawyer who she quickly found out thought a lot of himself (but if his reputation was anything to go by, it probably wasn't _all_ bluster).

They clearly comprised the eccentric group that Woolsey had been hinting at earlier. But as lawyers? They were both impressive litigators and damn good persuasive speakers. Their track records were nigh impeccable, as Elizabeth found out both from the firm's documents and from Peter and Chuck, the two secretaries, who were both happy to pass along internal gossip as they guided her through IOA's paperwork procedures.

Those traits showed through when she sat down with Rodney and Vala of them during lunch later that first week. Elizabeth quickly discovered that they were avid conversationalists. She found it almost impossible to get a word in edgewise between the two of them.

"So, what made you move to Colorado?" Vala asked, picking apart a muffin with her fingers. She arched an eyebrow and leaned in conspiratorially, "Or should I ask what delicate flower did you upset in Washington to get shipped out here?"

Elizabeth smiled, reaching for her glass of water. "Nothing like that. I just needed a fresh start, you know?"

"So no sex scandal?" Vala inquired bluntly. Elizabeth almost choked, but Vala wasn't paying attention, almost pouting as she continued with her chin resting on her intertwined fingers. "No juicy controversy regarding clandestine meetings with a married senator, or something of the sort? I was expecting it was a hot, steamy affair that had ruined your career in D.C and chased you off here."

Actually it was Simon that was having the affair, she thought. Elizabeth's expression closed off and she hedged as discreetly as she could, "Nothing like that. Sorry. I'm a fairly boring individual." The words rang a little too true for Elizabeth's taste.

Before the thought could fester, Rodney cut in with a dismissive wave of his hands. "Don't mind Vala. She's a walking sexual harassment case on high heels."

"That's not true!" Vala protested. "I'll have you know that I've always claimed that the men here have been nothing but gentlemanly to me."

"Much to your disappointment," Rodney groused with a roll of his eyes. "And if there was ever a sexual harassment case with you in it, you'd be the defendant, not the victim."

Vala jetted out her lower lip in a pout, but Elizabeth caught a glint of humor in the other woman's eyes. The byplay between the two was clearly well established banter, and suddenly Elizabeth was struck with a touch of understanding. Obviously as the two outsiders in the firm, they had banded together.

Rodney turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "So, what did you say your specialty was?"

"I've done a lot of a consultant work in politics," Elizabeth said, then clarified. "Mostly international work, specifically trade relations."

"Ah, yes," Rodney muttered under his breath. "More soft sciences."

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow, but Vala placed a placating hand over hers and grinned. "Don't mind Rodney," she said, turning the table on him. "He thinks he's a God-given gift to Earth. I've tried explaining this concept that confidence is only sexy if it's backed up with substance, but he just won't listen."

"Oh, har har," Rodney muttered. "You're just upset that I might pass you in the next promotion."

"You're just upset that I turned you down for sex that one time." Vala glanced at Elizabeth and winked. "And every other time, too."

Elizabeth blinked. This was a weird conversation for her to be in the middle of with coworkers, she decided. Then again, it was far more entertaining than endless complaints about case details. Quietly dabbing her chin with the napkin, she eyed the two, hoping they weren't causing too much of a scene with their raised voices. "So," Elizabeth began. "What do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Work," Rodney replied, and then jabbed a finger at her plate. "Are you going to eat your Jell-o?"

The rest of the lunch continued in the same vein, and although Elizabeth felt a little overwhelmed by the two larger-than-life personalities sitting at the table with her, there was genuine warmth in their demeanors that had been distinctly lacking from Woolsey or any of the other junior partners in the firm. She couldn't help but think that if she had to pick her friends among the present collection, she'd go with these two.

At least with Rodney and Vala, what you saw was what you got.

She was already imagining introducing Vala to John and Cameron.

*~*~*~*~*

Her first weekend of car hunting had gone badly, so when the end of her second week at work arrived, Elizabeth was still driving a rental car and hating every second of it. She decided she was going to locate a car that weekend or die in the attempt.

Cameron called on Friday night while she was researching cars online. She hadn't seen him or John since the day they helped her unpack, though she'd spoken to them both over the phone and via e-mail. She'd been swamped at work with tons of case files to catch up on and meetings to get up to speed on cases. Every night she staggered home and went to bed almost immediately. It was the way of things at a law firm, she knew. If you wanted to get ahead you had to put in the hours. At least she had company. Rodney and Vala were both pursuing a promotion, and Rodney had introduced her to a coffee place that made scones so good Elizabeth was going to need to buy bigger suits if she kept going there every day.

Truth be told, she was also unsure of the ground in this strange friendship with the two men, so she had backed off. But part of her had missed them already, so when her phone rang and she heard Cameron's greeting, it was impossible not to let the warmth bubble up in her voice, "Hey. I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I was going to say the same thing about you," he answered, with an audible grin. "Legal eagles working you to death already?"

"Something like that," she groaned. "I know international law, but international patent law? Different fish."

"Fish?"

"My dad used to say that. Because a kettle of fish is always a kettle, but-"

"A trout is not a herring," Cameron finished. Elizabeth smiled to herself, a little sadly. She still missed her father terribly.

He distracted her a moment later. "So, what are you up to this weekend?"

"Buying a car." She paused momentarily, then added for emphasis, "Damn it."

"What? I thought you were doing that last weekend?"

She sighed. "I went to a bunch of dealerships, but I didn't get that zing, you know?"

"I dunno. Define zing."

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and took a drink of her wine. "You know, that moment of excitement when you see something, and you know it's what you want, what you were looking for? It's just a vibe you get when something clicks just right."

Cameron was silent for a long moment and Elizabeth felt a flush creeping up her neck as she considered how her words might sound in a different context. Finally, he seemed to gather himself mentally. "But you have yet to find a zing-worthy automobile."

"No," she said mournfully. "I mean, I saw a Corolla that was okay. But it was beige and I'm just too young to be driving a tan car already."

It sounded over the phone like he sat down on the couch. "Well, why don't you start with what kind of car you actually want?"

She looked at her laptop and reopened the Jeep dealership web page. "I've always kind of liked Jeeps."

"Okay so buy a Jeep."

"Yeah, but," her voice got a little whiny. "They're expensive, and they don't get great gas mileage. Plus, I'm just one person and I don't really need all that room."

"Elizabeth," Cameron sighed in her ear. "What does all that matter? Get the car you actually want."

"It's a big decision," she shot back, strangely defensive. "I don't want to sink a lot of money into a car that's going to cost too much to keep. It's irresponsible."

"Well, I'm no lawyer, but is buying a car that is boring and practical and that you end up hating somehow responsible behavior?" She couldn't come up with an answer for that and he sighed again. "I don't know why you're making this so hard on yourself, Elizabeth. You're a grown woman, you have a good job. Why would you deny yourself something you want for no good reason?"

His words hit her like she'd been pole axed. For a second she could barely breathe. Cameron made it sound so simple, so eminently sensible. Just do what you want to do with your life.

So why was that so hard for her? Why was every decision about weighing every God damned factor in the balance?

"Elizabeth? You still there?" She'd been silent for too long. She licked dry lips and cleared her throat.

"Yeah, well, when you put it that way..." she said a little weakly.

He chuckled. "Fortune cookie philosophy guy, that's me." She took another long drink of wine and he shifted subjects slightly. "Do you want us to go with you when you go car shopping? I'm pretty sure Shep and I can talk you into buying your Jeep."

"You two could talk me into buying a Hummer," she shot back. "I'll be okay, thanks. Car salesmen think I'm an easy mark until they find out I'm a lawyer." Maybe she would ask Vala or Rodney to go with her, though. Two lawyers would be better than one, and Vala struck Elizabeth as the type of woman who would embrace Cameron's philosophy whole-heartedly.

Cameron sighed. "Okay, but Shep'll want to kick the tires so you'd better let us know when you buy it."

She heard the unspoken desire to see her again and she felt it too. She missed them both. It was strange, having known them for such a short period of time. But, as Cameron said, maybe it was time she stopped trying to make decisions based on some skewed internal rules and just do what she really wanted to do. "I promise I'll take you both out for a ride first thing," she teased him.

Cameron didn't miss a beat. "I'm looking forward to it."

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth bought herself a used Jeep Cherokee that Saturday. She went to the dealership and even test drove a regular Jeep. The entire ride, all she could think about was that she didn't have solid metal walls between her and the world. Memories of the accident were still far too fresh, maybe, for a Jeep.

But there was a midnight blue used Cherokee on the lot and as soon as she slipped behind the wheel, well, as she told Cameron the next week, Zing City.

Vala and Rodney both tagged along on the shopping expedition. Elizabeth was obviously no slouch with negotiations, but she ended up playing the good cop. Vala had the salesman's brain so scrambled he couldn't answer a third of Rodney's barrage of highly technical questions. She ended up saving at least three thousand dollars thanks to them.

In gratitude she took them to Vala's favorite Italian restaurant. The tiramisu was to die for.

*~*~*~*

After dutifully kicking the tires on Elizabeth's new car, John dropped his bag near the doorway of the station and held it open as Elizabeth followed him inside. He watched her take in the firehouse with a quick sweep of her eyes. Two bulky fire engines took up the majority of the space, with the rescue vehicle which Cameron had been driving when they stopped at the accident off to the side. Past that was the common area, including the kitchen and the TV room that housed an eccentric array of ratty couches and chairs. Beyond that were that standard bunk beds and showers, but there was a rule against taking civilians back there ever since Evan Lorne, one of their fellow firefighters, had been caught _in flagrante delicto_ with some pretty state psychiatrist a few months back.

John waved her fully in. "Welcome to the Shack," he said, slipping in the fire station's moniker. "It isn't much to look at, I know. They've been fighting City Hall for a new station for years, but... I don't know, I kinda like the feel of this one just fine. Granted, it's a little… rustic."

Rustic was being overly-generous to the station, he knew. The firehouse that housed Engine 13, John's unit, was one the oldest in the city. But the place was reliable, and had personality and history to boot. In John's book, that was always worth more than being sparkly and new. No doubt he'd take a few upgrades in equipment, but he didn't relish the idea of the distinctive building being torn down and paved over for something shinier. It was only a matter of time, though.

Cameron emerged from one of the back rooms, quickly catching sight of the duo. "Hey," he beamed, wiping wet hands on the dishtowel. "I was beginning to wonder if you had kidnapped her for the day."

"Unfortunately he never tried," Elizabeth answered. "Instead I think we had to go pick up his..." she trailed off and looked to his gym bag with a raised eyebrow, "What? Dirty gym clothes?"

John rolled his eyes and hoisted the bag over his shoulder. "I just had to stop by my place and pick up a few things." He answered evasively.

"Yeah, yeah," Cameron agreed, waving them over. "I was expecting you an hour ago. C'mon, Elizabeth. I'll introduce you to everybody."

Elizabeth nodded, smoothing away an imaginary crease from her red shirt. There was a touch of anxiety peeking through in the gesture. John saw it and just shook his head. "Relax, Elizabeth. They don't bite," he promised.

It was beyond him why she was so nervous. Granted, it was an entirely new city and new people to her, but that was why Cameron and John had taken it upon themselves to introduce her to some of their friends. He didn't think Elizabeth normally associated with their kind of crowd, but he highly doubted that she'd have any difficulty getting along. He may have been a bit biased, though. His unit was an easy-going and friendly bunch, and Elizabeth…

…Well, Elizabeth was Elizabeth.

Cameron took her by the elbow, and marched her into the common area. "Just remember that if the subject of football comes up-"

"I know nothing about football," Elizabeth cut in, protesting. "If it comes up, I'll just look confused."

John shared a look with Cameron. "Captain's going to talk her ear off," he concluded.

They weaved their way into the back room where the rest of his unit – those on the dayshift, at least – were lounging in the TV room. Elizabeth pulled up short in the doorway, and John stopped behind her, glancing over her shoulder to see who was present. Lorne was sprawled across the couch, legs dangling off the sidearms. Teyla and Ronon, the two newest transfers in the unit, were sitting at the table playing cards with the Captain. The latter looked up when they all entered.

"Boys," Jack O'Neill greeted, "I thought we talked about the girlfriend policy already."

On the couch, Lorne's face went bright red, but he didn't say a word.

Cameron answered for them. "She's not a girlfriend," he explained, although John wondered which man the insinuation had been directed at. "She's..."

"--a newly acquainted friend who's new in town," John finished, jabbing a thumb towards her in emphasis. "Be nice," he warned, and tossed an extra look towards Lorne that warned him not to be _too_ nice.

John quickly brushed past her as he retreated to the locker room to drop off his bag, while behind him, Jack was drawling, "Well, that just makes you all types of... _new_, doesn't it?"

John hoped Cameron was making an appropriate face to that remark.

He spun open his locker and dropped his bag in a little too sharply, watching as his books and paperwork fell out and spilled across the bottom of the locker. Glancing around to see if anyone saw, John quickly grabbed the textbooks and shoved them back inside. No one in his unit except O'Neill knew that he was preparing for the Captain's examination yet, and he preferred to keep it that way for as long as possible. If he crashed and burned, that way no one would have to know.

By the time he made his way back, Cameron had already made introductions for everyone and Elizabeth was settled on the couch between Cameron and Lorne, a soda cradled in her hand.

"So," Elizabeth said, eyeing the game of cards going on at the table. "I don't suppose you guys are playing poker?"

Teyla answered for her by laying her cards down. "Gin, actually. And really."

O'Neill groaned. Ronon tossed his cards down and deadpanned, "I prefer Go Fish myself."

"We had to institute a ban on poker in the station," the captain said, turning in his chair to stretch his feet out. "For the rest of the month."

"We _had_ to?" Cameron said incredulously.

"Whenever the captain loses more than fifty bucks, we go without poker for a few weeks," Lorne piped up. He'd been in The Shack with O'Neill the longest, John arriving not long after Evan did. "Which doesn't stop us from playing outside the station," he added with a charming smile towards Elizabeth. "If you wanted to join us sometime and let us separate you from some money, you'd be more than welcome."

John noticed Cameron glowering at Lorne as well.

Elizabeth grinned at Cameron. "I'm afraid all my money went into buying a new car."

"What happened to your old one?" Teyla asked.

Elizabeth stopped for a moment and then looked at Cameron with an eyebrow raised. "You didn't tell them?"

John's ears were getting hot. He felt like an idiot that he hadn't anticipated this coming up.

Cameron was hedging. "Not in so many words."

The other four people were looking at them all curiously now. Then Ronon leaned back in his chair, tilting it off the floor. "Wait, Mitchell, is this the woman you rescued from the car wreck? The one you said had a great-"

"No!" Cameron bellowed and then actually blushed. John couldn't remember Cameron blushing ever before. "Well, I said some things..." he muttered and then looked at John pleading for help.

Elizabeth looked at him too, and John swore he saw a hint of amusement even though she was putting on the stern face.

"Yes, we managed to get Elizabeth out of her wrecked car a couple weeks back. We were off-duty, on our way back to the station when we saw the accident."

Elizabeth smiled. "The boys here gave me a lift home, since my car was totaled."

O'Neill's face went dark – well, his eyes did, anyway – and John knew Elizabeth had no idea why what she'd just said would be a problem. He hoped against hope that the captain wouldn't ask, but of course he did.

"Did they, now? Sheppard, Mitchell, are you in the habit of lingering around to look in on your patients?"

Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the tone Jack was using as anything but teasing. Elizabeth's head snapped around and she swallowed.

Cameron shook his head at Jack and John folded his arms. "Dr. Fraiser was worried about Elizabeth going home by herself, even in a cab, with the concussion she had," he said as calmly as he could.

"We were both off-duty by that point and it wasn't out of our way," Cameron added.

O'Neill backed off when he heard mention of Janet Fraiser. No one got on Janet's bad side and lived to tell the tale, and O'Neill knew that better than anyone.

Teyla came to the rescue with a stream of small talk and she and Elizabeth were chatting away easily in a few minutes. Jack went to the kitchen, giving him and Cameron the tiniest warning glance as he went.

When Jack was out of earshot, Elizabeth turned to him and Cameron. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you into trouble."

"Don't worry about it, Elizabeth," Cameron said.

"Yeah, a day we're not in trouble is kind of unheard of," John said with a smirk. "Besides, it was just... being neighborly to the new kid in town, right?"

Elizabeth grinned back, toasting him with her soda. John couldn't help watch the way her throat moved as she swallowed and he caught the same slightly arrested expression on his partner's face and knew his words were a lie.

*~*~*~*

A month after Cameron and John had pulled Elizabeth from her wrecked car, she held a housewarming party at her apartment. She asked them to bring Ronon and Evan and also invite Janet. Teyla had gotten her own invitation. It seemed she and Elizabeth had struck up an e-mail friendship in the week or so since they brought Elizabeth to see the fire house.

Elizabeth specifically told them the party wouldn't really start until after seven, and when Cameron stepped inside he understood why. A bunch of men and women in business attire were mingling around in the living room, holding glasses of what was probably very expensive wine. He'd gleaned that much about her tastes already. Elizabeth liked the good stuff. It probably was part and parcel of the job.

She accepted his offering of beer and smiled in relief. "Thank God you're here. There are too many lawyers in this place."

"Um, Elizabeth? You're a lawyer, remember?"

She made a silly face while they were safely in the kitchen and couldn't be seen. "Yes, which is why I know exactly what's wrong with all lawyers. No capacity to talk about anything other than the law."

He chuckled, following her out into the other room, but the doorbell buzzed and she left to answer it, leaving him to confront the room full of strangers by himself.

A tall, elegant looking brunette fairly bounced over to him and held out a hand. "Vala Mal Doran, and you are?" Her voice was a silky purr and Cameron instantly felt danger warnings inside. This woman was a human barracuda.

"Cameron Mitchell."

"Oh, you're one of the men who rescued Elizabeth during her accident, aren't you?" Cameron didn't have time to gloat over the fact that Elizabeth was talking about him. Vala introduced him to the rest of the room and behind them was a babble of noises.

Janet, Teyla and Ronon had arrived, and Cameron caught the tension in the lawyers grouped around him, especially when they got a good look at Ronon. Like they were all wanting to take off and knew they couldn't perform a mass exodus without being rude.

The bald guy with the glasses went first, along with two other people. In the twenty or so minutes that passed while Evan and then John arrived, all the lawyers but Miss Mal Doran and a stocky looking guy who was planted near the snack table had left.

Elizabeth came into the living room, wine glass full and John on her heels. She looked around and sighed. "Thank God that's over." She climbed over Cameron's legs and dropped gracefully into a chair.

"I still don't see why you had to invite them all," the male lawyer said through a mouth full of potato chips.

"Office politics, Rodney," Elizabeth said tiredly. "And Vala has a big mouth." She mock-glared at Vala.

"Well, it's not often I get to escape the legal jungle and attend a social function. I can't help it if I was enthusiastic about the prospect of a work-related excuse to escape from my desk for an evening," Vala said with the air of a martyr.

Elizabeth made the introductions and then Janet asked for the tour of the apartment. It took about five minutes before Ronon flipped on the tv and found the baseball game. By the time Elizabeth returned to the living room with Janet and Teyla, Cam and Ronon were sitting on the couch with their feet on the coffee table. John and this Rodney guy were having a heated argument about sci fi movies, and Vala and Evan were talking.

Everyone settled around the room, relaxing and chatting. Cameron's eyes kept drifting to their hostess. He wondered what Elizabeth was like at work, if she resembled those stiffs who had stampeded for the exits. She must have been able to function in that environment to survive at her job.

The conversation had drifted to Elizabeth's colleagues and Rodney waved a hand at Elizabeth, grinning. "You realize your less-than-aristocratic associations have probably earned you a permanent spot in misfit alley, right?"

Elizabeth saluted him with her wine. "We can only hope."

She was sitting in a dining room chair, and John was on the floor next to her. He leaned back and draped an arm over her knees. "So how does it feel to be hanging with the uncool kids?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why do you assume I was ever doing anything else?"

Teyla leaned over and said something. Cameron's eyes were stuck on John's arm in Elizabeth's lap. He knew John had a thing for Elizabeth.

The problem was, so did he.

Cameron had been working with John for almost three years, and their partnership was a good one. There'd been one or two major bumps over time, but he knew John better than he'd known... hell, pretty much anyone in his life aside from his parents, probably. Knew more than he would have expected to know about someone who worked with, even given their jobs.

It took time to develop the ability to work together seamlessly in the field, as well as the right blend of personalities. He and John had gotten through some pretty big situations over the years. John's divorce had produced some interesting developments. Interesting in the sense of the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Cameron wasn't exactly free of his own baggage to begin with. So, when they survived all that and were still on speaking terms, Cameron figured they could handle anything.

But rivalry over a girl? Something like this could destroy their friendship, and he didn't want to go there, because breaking in a new partner at work would suck. Not to mention losing a best friend.

By the looks of things, Elizabeth seemed to be interested in John as well. He could back off, Cameron knew. He hadn't seen John like this around a woman before, since when they'd met John had been separated from his wife. John looked happy. Cameron didn't want to take that away from his friend.

But he didn't want to give Elizabeth up either. He was no better than John, getting excited when she called him to talk about her day. Just hearing her voice on the phone had him grinning like an idiot some nights.

Later in the evening the seating had all flowed and rearranged itself and Elizabeth was sitting on the arm of the couch next to him. She was nibbling on one of Janet's brownies and smiling down at him while they talked and he felt a heady urge to reach up and wipe the chocolate from the corner of her mouth.

Elizabeth's eyes caught his for a second and he wondered if he'd been wrong about her being into John.

The moment passed and Cameron snuck a look at his friend. John glanced towards them, curious and amused but not suspicious. He was stretched out on the floor, leaning against a cushion with an arm up over his head, a posture only John could get comfortable in. He'd been bickering with McKay half the night about sci-fi movies and now they were randomly tossing popcorn at each other, both of them grinning like little kids.

Damn it, Cameron didn't want to give either John or Elizabeth up.

He didn't know what to do.

Teyla suddenly frowned, "Where's Evan?"

Rodney's head came up. "Wait, where's Vala?"

"Oh boy," Elizabeth, John and Cameron all said together.

Something clattered in the kitchen. Janet, who was closest, crept over and looked through the doorway.

Then Evan appeared in the hall leading to the bathroom. He paused, seeing the entire room staring at him. "What?" He glanced down, checking his fly. Then Vala reappeared from the kitchen.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

*~*~*~*

The summer slipped by. Elizabeth began amassing a case load and a set of clients. Biotechnology and "green" industry were booming in Colorado, and she had to catch up on a lot of scientific progress very fast. She spent far too many hours in Rodney's office asking for help translating the heavy technical details of some of her cases, although she did her best to drag Rodney out for coffee once in a while since he never seemed to see daylight. Vala never seemed to do much work learning the technobabble, but she had a gift for slicing to the heart of an argument without getting bogged down in details. Elizabeth envied her sometimes. She found herself enjoying the work, although she remained cold colleagues with most of the other attorneys at the firm. Still, indifference was better than back-stabbing and webs of conspiracies.

Plus she noticed that Peter and Chuck, the two legal secretaries, who were very much in demand in the office, were never too busy to say no to her or Vala. There was some comfort in that.

John and Cameron dragged her out on weekends when they weren't on shift, making her go with them to Rocky Mountain National Park. They drove her, Teyla and Ronon down to Pike's Peak one Saturday as well. On the way back, they saw a beaten up truck on the side of the road. An elderly man was standing there staring at the flat tire looking defeated. Without a word, John smoothly pulled off onto the shoulder and everyone including her got out. She watched as the other four immediately went to work helping change the tire. It was impressive the way John and Cameron operated almost without having to speak to each other without missing a beat.

It occurred to her on the ride back to Denver that all four of these people went home every day secure in the knowledge that they did something useful with their lives. They were making a difference. That had to be a good feeling to go to bed with at night. It made it a bit harder to plow through more corporate contracts and paperwork at the office, even though she knew that some of the technology her clients were working on could benefit a lot of people some day down the line.

On Labor Day, Jack O'Neill and his wife held an enormous barbecue. The biggest sensation of the day was when Evan showed up with a beautiful blonde woman he introduced as his girlfriend. Cameron whispered in her ear that this was the psychiatrist Evan had been caught having sex with in the fire house, which probably accounted for the poor woman's blushing after their arrival.

Evan got teased up, down and sideways for most of the party, at least until someone noticed that Ronon and Janet had disappeared at virtually the same time.

The promotion in the firm was announced at the start of September. Rodney and Vala both lost out to another associate, young and straight-laced and more palatable to the senior partners, Elizabeth believed. She took them out for dinner again, feeling unhappy on several levels. The firm had pigeonholed two brilliant attorneys – and probably also Elizabeth herself by now – just because they were a little eccentric. Never mind that Vala's clients refused to accept assignment of another attorney, or that Rodney handled cases that no one else in the firm could make heads or tails out of.

Vala decided this news merited a Girls' Day Out the following Saturday. Elizabeth surreptitiously called John and asked him to drag Rodney away from moping in his apartment for a while. A weird sort of friendship had developed between them. Elizabeth knew they exchanged long, voluminous emails arguing about everything under the sun, apparently. She hated the thought of Rodney at home alone and depressed all weekend.

She, Kate, Vala and Teyla liberated Janet from the hospital at the end of her shift and after a heavy infusion of caffeine and sugar, they went shopping. Vala decreed they weren't allowed to buy anything business attire or work-related, and the shoe store was having a sale. It was a fun afternoon.

*~*~*~*

John was lounging on the sofa with a highlighter between his teeth when he heard Cameron coming through the garage. He had just enough time to stash his textbook under the couch cushion before his partner made his way back, appearing in the doorway with a sour look on his face.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Don't ask," Cameron groused, shaking his head as he plopped down and planted his feet against the coffee table. But John knew that look, and the big scary vein in Cameron's neck was never a good sign. When Cameron turned on the TV and pretended to get engrossed in a hockey game on ESPN, John waited it out, only half his attention on the game. Cameron predictably broke the silence within five minutes. "I think O'Neill is looking to retire soon."

There was a pregnant pause that followed, though John suspected that Cameron didn't know the half of it. O'Neill was going to retire, sooner than Cameron probably expected. Jack talked a lot about retirement, but he'd done it twice and both times he'd come back. But it'd come to the point where his knees had gotten so bad that it was plain stupid for him enter the field. He got relegated to administrative duty most of the time these days, and if there was one thing in the world that Jack hated, it was paperwork.

All of this was what had prompted Jack to not-so-idly strike up a conversation with John several months back about the Captain's examination.

The chances of the department promoting a newly minted captain from within the house were slim, but it wasn't impossible. Especially if the outgoing captain expressed a preference. So John was in full-blown student mode. John had no idea why Jack had placed this kind of faith in him, but he was doing everything he could not to let him down. The test was coming up in a few weeks now.

He had mentioned none of this – absolutely none of it – to the rest of his unit. Jack was the only one that had any idea. John wasn't sure why he had made this such a big secret. He usually shared almost everything with his team at least in passing, Cameron most notably. It felt unspeakably weird not to have told Cameron about this. They'd been best friends for years, and being so much in each other's pockets due to work, there wasn't much they didn't know about each other any more.

Of course, every time he considered opening his mouth, he got this mental image of utterly tanking the exam and having to tell his friends he'd failed. His stomach rolled unpleasantly at the mere thought. He'd rather face their surprise than their pity.

"O'Neill was…" Cameron mumbled, bringing John back to reality. "Damn it, he's the reason I came to this house. It just won't be the same without him."

John nodded silently, well aware that Cameron practically worshipped the ground Jack walked on. Not that John was one to judge, as he did his fair share of idolizing himself. Jack O'Neill was a legend among firefighters, no bones about it.

How was he supposed to follow that? If he even passed the exam. And got assigned back here, which was also not guaranteed.

"What's going to happen to this place if he retires?"

John found himself in an awkward position. "I don't know. They'll bring in somebody to take his spot?"

Cameron rolled his eyes. "Terrific, we'll have some asshole trying to give us orders." He changed the channel, jabbing at the remote control with more force than was necessary. "You don't just take orders from anybody. You got to trust the guy. You've got to rely on his instincts. We deal with life and death here. One wrong decision, and this new guy could get us all killed."

John felt vaguely like throwing up. He cleared his throat and looked for a change in conversation. "You got plans for tonight?"

Cameron shrugged.

John continued, licking his lips. "You want to head to Rodney's place with me? I'm leaving in twenty minutes. Apparently Elizabeth took Vala and the girls out to commiserate about some promotion that went over all of their heads. I got Rodney patrol."

"Cool." Cameron slumped further down in the cushions, eyes slipping shut as he rested his head back. He sighed, and some of the tension left his body as he muttered, "Girls night out, eh?"

John was struck with an image of all the women decked to the nines and got lost in the pleasant visual for a minute. It was no surprise that his imagination lingered on Elizabeth longer than any of the other women. Actually, Elizabeth had been lingering in his thoughts a lot lately. By the look on Cameron's face, John could tell his mind had wandered down a similar path, and that, too, was becoming a frequent occurrence.

He and Cameron thought a lot alike about a great number of things, but this was the first time he ever suspected that they both liked the same girl.

"Wonder what the girls are wearing," Cameron mumbled, and John glanced curiously to his friend's content face. His eyes were still closed, so John nudged him with his foot to get Cameron's attention. "What?" Cameron griped, though without any real bite. He half-heartedly glared. "Let a man have his pleasant fantasies, would you?"

John just stared for a moment, and then said, "So, Elizabeth…" he left the sentence hanging, unsure of how to continue now that he had finally started to voice the thoughts that had been tumbling over in his head since the night of the car crash. But over the years Cameron had developed a sixth sense about John. It usually came in handy in the heat of the moment during fires, but it had other applications. Freaky telepathic applications, apparently, because Cameron stiffened ever so slightly, catching onto the fact that the conversation had just gotten a little more interesting. "Do you-?"

"Yeah," Cameron said immediately.

John bit the bullet, "Anything up with you two?"

Cameron paused, eyes squinting slightly, and said, "No. We're just friends." He paused again. "You two?"

"Friends, too."

Cameron settled back against the couch, tossing a cautious look towards John that was half confused, half frustrated. John empathized with him. "So," Cameron supplied after a moment, "we're all just friends then?"

John shrugged. "One big happy friends' circle, that's us."

"Huh," Cameron mumbled, then faked a smile. "Well, good for us. You can never have too many friends."

It was obvious that neither of them particularly agreed with Cameron's statement. In fact, the more he thought about it as silence settled in, the more John realized that while being friends with Elizabeth was nice and all, but he wanted more. And he knew, without even going through this ridiculous exchange again, that Cameron did too.

It was more than a little pathetic that neither one of them was willing to acknowledge the dancing elephant in the room, pink tutu and all.

*~*~*~*

After dinner the five of them were going to a nightclub. Elizabeth hadn't been out anywhere like this since coming to Denver. It was an 80s-themed place, so thankfully the customers weren't entirely fresh-faced twentysomethings, although there certainly were enough young, beautiful people to make her depressed about her age. Still, they had fun dancing all together and mocking Teyla, who was being hit on left and right.

"We should have brought those strapping men of yours," Vala said to Elizabeth and Kate. "They could have helped keep the swingers at bay."

Kate rolled her eyes, but Elizabeth's cheeks turned bright red. "They're not _my_ men," she shot back.

Vala raised an eyebrow. "I was referring to all the gentleman at the fire house, including Kate's handsome boyfriend," she said innocently. "But it's rather telling that you immediately thought something else, isn't it, girls?"

"What exactly is going on with the three of you, anyway?" Janet asked, sipping her drink. This was somewhat ironic since Janet absolutely refused to discuss anything that might or might not be going on with her and Ronon and got fierce when pressed on the issue.

Elizabeth sighed dramatically. "Nothing. We're just friends."

All four of the women stared at her skeptically. "'Just friends' do not spend that much time looking at your ass, Elizabeth," Vala pointed out.

"Honey, no woman with a pulse could be just friends with both John and Cameron," Janet told her. "One of them is hard enough to handle, but both of them? Together?"

Elizabeth's face flushed even more and Vala gave a dreamy sigh. "Isn't that a lovely thought?"

"Not when you have to deal with them at work every day," Teyla said with a sour face.

They all laughed. "Well, coworkers is a different story, but Elizabeth has no such barriers in her way, does she?"

The teasing shifted to picking on Teyla about her stream of young admirers who were haunting her through the night, but Elizabeth gulped down her drink and ordered another. When she'd been dressing to go out tonight, she had stared at her reflection in the mirror, looking at her red tank top and her favorite denim skirt, and her new knee-high black leather boots, something she probably never would have bought had she not had Vala and Janet egging her on today. She wished the guys could see her. She wished she could see the expressions on their faces. When they were hanging out she was always in just normal clothes, not really dressed up like this.

The truth was she had considered that "lovely thought" more than once, because Janet was right. The two men had been filling her fantasies ever since the accident. Sometimes it was just one of them, but on some nights she couldn't keep the thought of them together at bay, even though she felt a little ashamed of it later on. But fantasies in the bathtub were one thing. Acting on them was something else, and Elizabeth just flat out liked the two of them too much to even try to choose.

She was friends with them both. She didn't want to screw that up. And after the disaster with Simon, she thought she should be more careful about who she got involved with.

And she didn't want to screw up their friendship with each other, not to mention their working relationship, by picking one over the over.

It was all fine, she told herself. They were friends, and having a crush on them both hadn't been a problem so far. She needed their friendship too much to risk it by doing something stupid. No reason why things had to change.

Deep down, though, Elizabeth didn't really believe that.

*~*~*~*

They swung by Rodney's place and picked him up, and plans were made on the road. Actually, it was more John's decision than anything else, as he was driving. They pulled up to O'Malley's, a local bar and restaurant that Jack had introduced them to years ago. They ate there regularly, usually shooting some pool or throwing darts on the free nights they had off. He figured Rodney hadn't been to the place before, and he was right.

Tonight, though, John's mood was still sour from his earlier conversation with Cameron. Too many things had been left unsaid, and it irked him, making John unusually silent as Rodney and Cameron made idle conversation on the car ride over. So when they walked in, John strolled straight to the bar and ordered himself a beer, making it a point to tell the bartender to keep them coming all night long. Cameron joined him a second after, and echoed the sentiment.

Rodney glanced from one to another, and rolled his eyes. "I thought you guys were supposed to be cheering me up?" he groused.

"Then get drunk with us," Cameron offered with a slap across the back.

Rodney crossed his arms over his chest. "Fantastic, that sounds like fun. And then we can all get in a car and drive through town like crack addicts in desperate need of getting their next fix. We'll hit an old lady, a cop will show up, and then we can bond over our mutual DUIs and criminal prosecution. In which case, I'd totally have to pay three packs of cigarettes to Big Al in the next cell to kill both of you as vengeance."

"Rodney, shut up and sit down," John grumbled. "We'll order a cab if it comes to it."

They grabbed a table in the back and Rodney followed them reluctantly, protesting for a few more minutes, and then proceeded to get drunk right alongside John and Cameron anyway. Although in all fairness, it didn't exactly take much alcohol before Rodney's words began slurring and his rants took an intellectual nose dive, dropping from utilizing five syllable words down to two.

"With the possible exception of Vala," he burped after they had finished their first pitcher of beer, and were on their second, "and Elizabeth of course, I don't think the bunch of 'em could litigate 'emselves out of a traffic ticket."

Rodney's rants carried on even when John and Cameron did nothing to encourage them, and at some point it became a one-man conversation. Not that Rodney noticed. John and Cameron exchanged amused glances, and Cameron stood, slapping down another order of beer at the bar before he returned with the pitcher in hand.

John glanced up at him, and apparently his tongue had loosened with the tang of alcohol. "I don't want to be just friends with Elizabeth," he said point blank.

He had tried to mask the strength of his intentions with a lazy, casual tone, as if he was talking about the weather, but Cameron had stopped short, glanced down at him and John knew it was a moot point.

Not only did Cameron appear to agree with John's sentiment, he also looked like he approved. "Neither do I."

Well, John thought as he shifted in his seat a little, the haze of alcohol pleasantly numbing, that decided that, then.

And even if he didn't exactly know what had been decided, he strangely felt better anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

Rodney wandered into Elizabeth's office on the following Wednesday afternoon. This was unusual, since Rodney tended to charge more than wander, frequently with his head down because he was reading something as he walked. This time, it was definitely wandering, followed by Rodney flopping down into the chair across from her desk.

Vala was more of a saunter type, who tended to perch on Elizabeth's desk or lean against windows.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Rodney. "Something wrong?"

He shrugged, somewhat morosely. "They're sending me to take a deposition from the guy at Nanitech."

Elizabeth dug through her memory. "This is the wrongful termination suit?" Rodney nodded, plucking at his tie. "I thought they handed that case off to the Golden Child." That was their private nickname for the attorney who'd gotten the promotion.

"They want me to handle the technical questions and translate them into English for our new junior partner."

She knew the lost promotion was bothering Rodney to begin with, but sending him to do grunt work on the case was insult added to injury.

"I don't know why they want me in there," Rodney groused. "This guy is already suing our client. Sending me will only make him hate us that much more."

Elizabeth suppressed a smile, but Rodney rolled his eyes. "I'm not a idiot, Elizabeth. I know exactly what my limitations are, as well as my strengths. I'm not a people person. It's what makes me a good lawyer. I don't get sympathetic to people just because they make cow eyes at me."

Privately she thought to herself that one of the reasons Rodney failed to be moved that way was that he was terrible at reading body language and other cues like that, but she refrained from saying so. Instead she looked at the pile of work on her desk. "When are you going down there?"

"I'm leaving in about half an hour."

"You want me to come with you?"

For a second she thought he might be offended at the idea that he needed a babysitter, but Rodney was telling the truth. He did know where his strengths were and when to accept backup. He shot her a grateful look. "Thanks."

*~*~*~*

John had surreptitiously put in to take Thursday off for the captain's exam. Well, in truth he'd mentioned to Jack the date of the exam and Jack had conveniently scheduled him and Cameron off. Which was good since it didn't involve John having to lie to his partner about the fact that he needed to be free that day.

Their shift ended on Wednesday afternoon and he decided to get some Chinese food and go home and cram the rest of the night so he'd be ready for the next day. He was almost free when Cameron came into the locker room. "Hey, do you mind if we switch with Ronon and Teyla tomorrow? She's got some plans or something and they asked if we'd switch Thursday for Saturday. I said it'd be okay."

John froze. "What?"

Cameron stared at him for a second. "Teyla asked if we'd switch with her and Ronon tomorrow. Is that a problem?"

Panic was rising up and John spluttered, "And you just agreed without even asking me first?"

"Well," Cameron hedged. "Yeah. I didn't think it would be an issue. We switch off all the time."

"It's not 'all the time.' It happens occasionally. And usually you actually check with me before agreeing to it."

Cameron glared. "I told Teyla I'd have to check with you. I'm sure there's still time to take it back."

For a second John was sorely tempted to be perverse and say no. If he had to work he couldn't take the test and therefore couldn't _fail_ the test and part of him was so scared of screwing it up he would almost rather not try. But Jack would have his ass if John pulled something like that. He tossed his bag over his shoulder. "There better be. I'm not available tomorrow."

"Why not?"

Cameron's stare was cold but John's anger was colder. "I have things to do."

He started to walk away and just caught the mutter behind him, "Like what?"

He pivoted. "For the record, you don't know about every part of my life, okay? I'm allowed to have stuff to do outside of this place that is none of your business."

"Fine," Cameron retorted. "Whatever these mythical 'things' that are keeping you so busy, I'm sure you don't want to keep them waiting."

John knew they were both acting like idiots and he knew it was largely his fault, but this was the precise reason he hadn't wanted anyone to know about the test. Someone would say something and his temper would get loose and it would end with him shouting something stupid like, "That's right, I don't."

And storming out of the Shack while Cameron called after him in a snotty voice. "Have fun! I'll tell Teyla she has to cancel her plans for your important, secret things."

Damn it. John threw his stuff into his car and drove home, fingers clenching tight around the steering wheel. This was just perfect, really. Just what he needed today.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth let Rodney drive while she flipped through the case file. IOA's client, Nanitech, was counter-suing a former employee who had brought a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination. It was an old gambit; tie the guy up in legalities until he gave up or was so beaten down he'd accept a settlement.

The former employee, one Radek Zelenka, had been in charge of a large R&amp;D project for Nanitech. "He claims Nanitech is falsifying their research on this biomechanical product that's supposed to create tissue for organ replacement?"

Rodney nodded as he parked the car. "Supposedly he threatened to go to the press and the company pointed out that would violate his nondisclosure agreement. Nanitech says he quit rather than be associated with them any more."

"And he claims they fired him?"

"Or bullied him into quitting," Rodney said as they got out. "Lots of heavy-handed stuff about his work visa and so forth. No records of any calls made from Nanitech to anyone in Customs and Immigration, though."

Elizabeth shrugged mentally and walked into the dingy office building that belonged to a Jay Felger, Esq.

It wasn't difficult to identify the lawyer. He was wearing a suit that tried too hard to look designer and failed spectacularly. He also was by turns smug and obsequious. The other man at the table appeared at first to be a caricature of the cerebral scientist. His hair was somewhat wild, his glasses were sliding down his nose, and he had his hands clasped on the table nervously.

Elizabeth merely nodded through the introductions and sat back to watch as Rodney began going through the scientific details of the suit, which quickly flew far over her head. What she didn't miss was the way this Dr. Zelenka came alive as he realized Rodney could speak his language. Not literally, since the man was a Czech national and Rodney even though he was Canadian by birth could barely order dinner in French, but the language of science. Rodney himself seemed to forget why he was here as they got into minute details of nanotechnology or something with great enthusiasm while Zelenka detailed his research work.

She wasn't really clear on what they were discussing, but Rodney suddenly went pale when Zelenka began talking about the FDA and a set of reports he'd been preparing. He stared at Zelenka in sheer horror. "But if they did that-" he began.

Zelenka nodded, and the intensity radiated off him as he took his glasses off and stared back at Rodney. "People would die, yes."

There was a moment of silence and Elizabeth felt dread begin to coil in her stomach. Felger tried to interrupt. "Dr. Zelenka, I don't think you should say anything more right now."

Zelenka ignored Felger but looked away. "They asked me to omit that part of the findings from the report for the FDA. I refused to do so, and was told I was being let go. And I was threatened and compelled to sign a second non-disclosure agreement on penalty of losing my work visa."

Rodney swallowed audibly. Elizabeth leaned forward before Rodney could say anything else. "Dr. Zelenka, can you prove that?"

Felger exploded. "How dare you? Don't answer that! This is entrapment." Elizabeth ignored him.

Zelenka looked back at her and Elizabeth had a moment to wonder how she had possibly thought of him as "mousy" when she first walked in here, because now he was anything but.

"I have only my word, Ms. Weir," he told her.

Elizabeth was a good lawyer, and unlike Rodney, she was very good at reading people. And there was not a doubt in her mind that this poor man was telling them the truth.

And she also had no doubt that IOA was going to run over Jay Felger, Esq. – who was now raving about all sorts of inexplicable charges and countercharges – like a steamroller crushing a Matchbox car.

The deposition ended and she and Rodney got back into his car. They went back to the office only long enough to drop their belongings off, and then in unison headed down the street to the local bar many of the professionals in the nearby office buildings frequented in the evenings.

Rodney was staring at his drink in silence. Silence and Rodney were never a good combination, Elizabeth had learned. She leaned forward, playing with the swizzle stick in her martini. "You can't do anything Rodney."

His head jerked up. "But-"

"Rodney," she said warningly. "You could lose your job if you interfered in any way."

He rolled his eyes at that, and she knew he was thinking of the lost promotion and the fact that people like him and Vala would never go much farther inside the firm. But it wasn't worth him losing his job over, especially since certain actions she could easily see him taking right now could end up with him disbarred.

"We can't just do nothing," he said lowly. "Zelenka is right. The company would be putting a lot of lives at risk, knowingly. We can't let them win."

"Even if they're our client?" she asked.

Rodney wilted. They couldn't break confidentiality. And Felger just didn't strike Elizabeth as the kind of guy with the resources or the crack investigative skills to find out enough on Nanitech to fight back effectively.

"Okay, we can't fix this, and we can't help Zelenka, but we have to do something, right?" Rodney asked. Elizabeth floundered for a moment. What could they possibly do? Ethically they had to stay out of it, and if they couldn't offer Zelenka any help...

An idea formed like the proverbial lightbulb over her head. Even Rodney couldn't miss the change in her expression. "What?"

"We aren't going to do anything," she told him, going for her cell phone. "But I might know somebody who could."

*~*~*~*

Thursday morning, John sat down in the small room with three other guys, hoping his stomach wasn't going to rebel. He'd been too worked up the night before to really study and then had slept badly. Now he just felt nauseous and part of him wanted to walk out.

He sat there at the table for a minute, trying to calm his rebellious stomach and he realized that the reason he was so uptight about this wasn't fear of being humiliated. It was because he wanted it so much. He wanted to pass the test and he wanted the promotion. Ever since leaving the Air Force, nothing had really meant that much to him. He had been proud to get into the fire department and he loved his job, but he hadn't really had any ambitions other than not dying or being seriously injured in the line of duty.

Life was a lot easier when he didn't want anything too badly. It wasn't a conscious decision, but really, since leaving the military and his divorce, John hadn't ever really felt any sort of serious desire for anything. He just went through the days and was okay, most of the time.

He thought of Elizabeth briefly, and he remembered Cameron's anger. Cam was going to be even angrier when he found out about this, especially if a miracle occurred and John passed, because it would mean they wouldn't be partners anymore. Beyond the risk of embarrassment, he hadn't wanted Cameron to know because of that. He didn't want to abandon his partner.

But he wanted this, too.

The proctor put the test down in front of him and John swallowed. No backing out now.

*~*~*~*

Thursday was pleasantly warm. Elizabeth had been careful in her choice of clothes that day, and she was glad she'd worn the sleeveless red blouse with the v-neck underneath her jacket. With the jacket off, the red shirt combined with her long black skirt and tall boots was very flattering and looked right in between business and dressy. That was confirmed when she walked into the bar and a couple of men looked her over not-so-surreptitiously.

She was here on business, but Elizabeth wanted every advantage she could get right now.

Judging by the way Steven Caldwell's eyes hastily ran over her body as he greeted her, her instincts had been right.

"Ms. Weir, it's good to see you."

"Elizabeth, please," she said, as she laid her coat and purse on the chair and sat down while Steven held the chair for her.

When she had ordered a drink, he leaned back in his chair. "I have to admit, I was surprised to get your call." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, a smile lurking around the corners of her mouth. "Last time we saw each other, I got the impression you weren't feeling too charitable towards me."

She laughed softly. "I don't like getting beaten, any more than you do," she told him. "But I can live with it when it's done so well."

Inwardly she wondered if that last bit had been laying it on too thick. Steven seemed to think so because he leaned forward and fixed her with a look. "I'm always happy to take compliments, but I doubt you asked me to meet you here to talk about old cases."

Her drink arrived and Elizabeth sighed. "No, and unfortunately this isn't a social call either." She wasn't sure if she imagined the hint of disappointment in his eyes or not. She launched into an approximation of the story of Rodney's problematic case and the situation of one Dr. Radek Zelenka. She'd been rehearsing this speech all day, honing it to the point where she could give Steven the information he needed without compromising her own ethics, or her job.

He listened without comment, sipping his drink. When she was finished, he looked straight at her. "Why come to me?"

Sensing this man was not one for playing games, she opted for blunt. "You're a damn good lawyer, and unless I'm completely misreading things, you have a healthy sense of justice." She paused for a moment, looking right back at him. "You know this is wrong, Steven."

They stared at each other for a long moment, then it was his turn to sigh. "I've dealt with Felger a couple times. He's weak and doesn't have the resources for this. IOA will crush him."

She had laid out the facts, and Steven was smart enough to fill in the rest. She didn't think further pleading would help, so Elizabeth held her breath, watching and hoping. She wasn't quite sure what she would do if Steven said no.

Finally, he swallowed the rest of his drink and put the glass back down. "Well, it looks like I might have some work to get to, if my supervisor agrees. And I can't guarantee that he will."

Elizabeth felt some of the tension leak out of her. "Thank you, Steven."

"Don't thank me yet," he replied, standing up. He picked up his suit jacket and briefcase, then paused and leaned over. "By the way, if you ever wanted to meet me just for a social drink, I wouldn't mind."

Her cheeks grew hot. It was rather hard to mistake what he meant, and the tiny hint of vulnerability in his face sent a pleasant shiver through her. "Steven, I…" She swallowed. "I just ended a long-term relationship before I moved here. I think I need a little more time before I think about, well, 'socializing' with people again."

He looked mildly disappointed, but he nodded. "Well, when you are…"

She smiled at him, not wanting to commit but grateful for the attention. It had been a very long time since she'd had an attractive man hitting on her. At least one she wasn't already friends with and who didn't hold any major personal or professional complications for her.

He left and Elizabeth nursed the rest of her drink for a few minutes. She paid the tab, and then on her way out of the bar pulled out her phone to call Rodney and report her success, before he lost patience and did something on his own that could cost his job. Sometimes it felt like she worked with hyperactive children.

*~*~*~*

Cameron spent his day off being pissed at John and simultaneously trying not to think about it.

The thing was, he and John were partners. Sure, maybe, theoretically, John had some thing he needed to do, but living in each other's back pockets like they did? Cameron probably would've known about it.

Then again, he remembered that John had been kind of distracted lately. He'd been reading more than normal. So maybe there was something going on that he wasn't telling Cameron. Which made Cameron slightly jealous and somewhat worried, alternatively, until he forced himself to get out of the house for a while before he turned into a fourteen year old girl.

Friday John looked exhausted and kept avoiding looking at Cameron. Both of them were trying so hard to act normal everybody was staring at them like they'd been replaced by Martians. Jack finally sent John home early, saying he looked like death warmed over and should go get some rest. When he was gone, Teyla and Ronon came back from a call. Cameron was only half listening to the chatter (well, Teyla was chattering, Ronon mostly listening with occasional comments) when something Teyla said made him stop in his tracks.

"They switched off yesterday because he was taking the captain's exam."

Cameron's head came up. The captain's examination had been given yesterday, just as it was every few months. But that couldn't be what John had been doing, could it?

He realized Jack was watching him, and suddenly Cameron knew. And Jack had known, which was why he'd been taking it easy on John for the last few weeks, especially today.

Without another word, Cameron got up and went to the lockers. He grabbed his coat and left the station.

*~*~*~*

John had been happily dozing on the couch when someone started banging on his door. He stumbled over and opened it just before Cameron started knocking again.

His partner brushed past him without saying anything and John groaned inwardly. He wasn't ready to continue their fight and he was really too tired to make a coherent apology. Unfortunately after the test he'd been kind of wrecked and had another bad night's sleep. All he wanted was to crawl into bed for a good 12 hours.

Then Cameron shocked the hell out of him. "Why didn't you tell me you were taking the captain's examination?"

After several seconds of stunned silence, John swallowed hard. "How did you know?"

"Teyla said something about someone switching off because the test was yesterday. Did you seriously think I couldn't figure that out?"

Sheepish, John scratched the back of his neck. "No."

Cameron started pacing. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"I didn't want to have to tell you I failed," John confessed.

Cam fixed him with a look. "What about when you pass? Were you just going to walk off without telling me? We're supposed to be partners, damn it." He shook his head. "I can't believe you didn't even talk to me about it. You do realize this affects me too, right? If you get promoted and they send you to a different house, I lose my partner."

John looked at his feet. He hadn't thought much about it, really, until yesterday when he first allowed himself to think what would happen if he actually passed the test. "I know." Cameron was clearly going to just stand there and wait until John explained himself. "I didn't… I was thinking about how embarrassing it would be if I bombed the thing and had to have all of you know about it."

Cam looked at him and John knew, somehow, what he was thinking, as if Cameron had spoken the words aloud. Because if their situations were reversed, he'd be feeling exactly as betrayed as Cameron looked right now. He swallowed. "I know I should've at least told you."

"You told Jack," was the accusatory reply.

"He's the one who pushed me to try," John shot back. "We never talked about it either. I just didn't tell anyone." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Once he finally said the words, Cameron relaxed a tiny bit. He leaned against the back of John's couch for a minute. "Is this really what you want?" he asked John quietly.

A couple days ago John would've hedged, but now he just nodded. "Yeah."

Cameron watched him for a minute. "That's all you had to say to me, you know."

His partner didn't get over things that fast, especially not when his temper got riled, but John felt some of the tension inside of him let go at that. It wasn't forgiveness, but it was acceptance, and he felt pretty stupid for having ever thought that Cameron would react any other way. They'd been through too much together. He should've known better.

"So, you got any food?" Cameron wandered to the kitchen in search of leftover Chinese and beer and John followed, knowing what was coming even as Cameron called back from the other room. "And how do you think you did on the damn test, anyway?"

*~*~*~*~*

 

In the two weeks leading up to Vala's Halloween party, Elizabeth came close to picking up the phone several times. She was debating inviting Steven Caldwell to go with her. A little voice in her head kept pointing out how long it had been since she'd been on a legitimate date (not to mention since she'd had decent sex), and that she had to get back on the horse sometime. And she could admit that when he wasn't kicking her ass in a courtroom, Steven was a very attractive, very sexy man. He had a gorgeous body and her imagination finally took a break from endless fantasies about handsome firemen to dwell on what his voice would be like in bed.

Admittedly, her feelings towards him were significantly warmer now that he'd taken Dr. Zelenka's case. The Golden Child had been heard fuming about it in the IOA offices, now that his first case after making partner was no longer a nice cakewalk. Elizabeth's role in that turn of events was still secret – Steven had been discreet. She felt a hint of malicious satisfaction knowing that she not only helped a good man get the representation he deserved but also spiked the triumph of her new boss.

In the end, though, she didn't call. She wasn't quite ready, and one of Vala's parties was probably not the best place to get to know someone who was also a professional colleague. Also, she wasn't sure she was looking for anything more than a transient affair and Steven didn't strike her as the type. Elizabeth quelled her hormones and promised herself that in a few more weeks, she'd maybe call him and invite him to dinner.

So she showed up at Vala's condo unescorted. Of course, with the mob Vala had invited, it hardly mattered. Elizabeth didn't recognize half the people in the room, which didn't stop Vala – dressed in a skin-tight black leather bodysuit like a catburglar – from bringing Elizabeth to meet a tanned, muscular dentist who she pointedly introduced as single.

Teyla mercifully appeared after five minutes and offered Elizabeth an escape from the dentist, who was probably a perfectly nice man, but who needed a 12 step program for the tanning salon as well as the teeth whitening service. Even for a dentist, it was creepy how his teeth almost glowed in the dim lights.

She didn't see John or Cameron anywhere, so she turned to her best source of information. "Are the guys here?"

Teyla looked around. "Somewhere? I know I saw John get here not long ago."

Elizabeth shifted a little closer to avoid shouting over the music. "Is everything okay? They've been a little subdued lately."

Teyla frowned. "Actually, I was hoping you might know. They had a fight a few weeks back and nobody seems to know why."

Elizabeth blinked. John and Cameron fighting? In the months she'd known them, she'd never seen them get more than mildly irritated with each other.

Teyla shrugged. "It may not be a big issue. They've just seemed a little tense lately." A sly smile crossed her face. "Though if anyone can get the truth out of them..."

Elizabeth flushed. "Are you suggesting I use my feminine wiles for nefarious purposes?"

Teyla raised an eyebrow. "What else are feminine wiles for?"

They clinked glasses at that, then Teyla muttered, "Uh-oh. Dentist at 2 o'clock." Elizabeth slipped off into the crowd.

She was halfway through her second glass of wine when she finally bumped into Cameron. He was, appropriately enough, dressed as a fireman. She poked his chest. "Lazy costume."

He chuckled. "It was cheaper than buying something else."

Remembering what Teyla had said, Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You could at least be a pretend fireman who is also a stripper or something."

His face flushed, something that amused her to no end. But he retaliated by looking at her short red skirt and knee-high black boots. "If you'd gone the naughty nurse route, I would have." There'd been a number of jokes about her costume choices in the last couple of weeks. Instead she'd worn all red, except the boots, and stuck a cheap costume store headband with devil's horns on her head.

Cameron craned his neck to look at her backside. "No tail?" he asked, disappointed.

"Not for you," she retorted. He gaped for a second, then turned a puppy face on her. "No."

Before he could reply, John sidled up to her, also wearing his uniform. He nodded at Cameron, a little distantly, and then leaned over to speak in her ear over the music, "You look good in red."

"Thank you," she said, and then shot Cameron a look. "He was bemoaning the lack of a tail for the costume."

She half-turned and suppressed a smile as John's eyes lingered on her ass the same way Cameron's had done. John, however, grinned at her. "I don't see any reason to complain. It would obstruct the view."

She smirked. Cameron was looking daggers at John for that one, but Elizabeth put down her drink. Now that she'd gotten them both a little flustered, it might be a good time to ask questions. "And for that, you get to have the first dance of the evening," she told John, grabbing his hand even as he protested that he didn't really dance.

The living room had been converted into a makeshift dance floor and Elizabeth positioned John's arms around her waist as they swayed to a slower song. With the heels on her boots, they were the same height and she let her arms rest on his shoulders. John was biting his lip the way he did when he was nervous. "So, what's new?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "You know. Flames, water, smoke. Lather, rinse, repeat."

"You've been a little quiet lately," she pressed gently.

His hands moved from the small of her back to her hips, drawing away. She locked her hands behind his neck and pressed a bit closer. She didn't miss the heavy swallow of his from the move and inwardly she felt just a little guilty.

But it worked. He sighed. "I did something a couple weeks ago that I probably should've told you about." Now her curiosity was up, along with a hint of panic. Had he met someone? Put in for a transfer?

He took a deep breath. "I took the captain's exam earlier this month. If I pass, I'll be promoted to captain and probably moved to another house."

Elizabeth stopped moving to the music in her shock. "John," she began. "That's wonderful!" This time she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for real.

"I don't know if I passed or not," he mumbled against her shoulder. He held on tightly for a second before letting go.

"You will," she said confidently. "I'm so proud of you."

John squirmed, profoundly uncomfortable as always with that kind of emotion. Elizabeth just put her arms back around his neck and started moving again. "So does this have anything to do with the fight you and Cameron had?"

John blinked. "How'd you know about that? Wait, never mind."

He flashed a glare over her shoulder, where Teyla was dancing with Rodney, who looked even more nervous than John. She caught John's look and shot a beatifically innocent smile back at him.

"So?" Elizabeth nudged.

John sighed explosively. "I kind of didn't tell anyone about the test. Well, Jack knew, but nobody else."

"Yikes." She winced. She could well imagine how Cameron had taken that news, especially if it meant John was leaving. For a moment she felt sympathetic. If John got promoted, he'd probably be much busier at work, and have less time to hang out. Elizabeth felt a flash of sadness at that thought, but she scrubbed it away.

She'd long suspected that underneath his attitude, John's emotions ran pretty deep. For him to take this step suggested it meant a lot to him.

However, knowing him as she did now, she didn't say any of that. She just grinned. "Well I for one will feel a little safer knowing Captain Sheppard is out there keeping the city safe from danger."

John's ears turned bright red.

*~*~*~*

Cameron forced himself not to watch Elizabeth dancing with John. Instead he let Vala manhandle him onto the dance floor for a bit. If he hadn't been around Vala before, he would've sworn on a stack of Bibles she was hitting on him, however, he'd seen her in action around men a lot. He had a feeling if he suddenly took her seriously, she'd back off so fast he'd fall over. Instead he fired back every pass with an equal innuendo and when the song ended moved to safety and let her search out her next victim.

He ran into a couple police officers he knew and they were talking about the baseball playoffs when someone came up from behind him and draped an arm over his back. Elizabeth rested her chin on his shoulder. She didn't say anything, and though the cops did a double take, he didn't move right away.

The image of her in John's arms filled his mind while the feeling of Elizabeth's body pressed against his back vied for his attention. Finally the politeness his grandmother had ingrained in him won out and he excused himself from the conversation and turned.

Elizabeth ducked under his arm, staying against his side. Cameron wasn't sure what to make of this, until he noticed she looked a little tipsy, maybe. "How's it going?"

"Good," Elizabeth nodded. "Vala put out the good wine."

"Aha."

She poked his ribs. "I'm not drunk."

"I didn't say anything."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist. "Let's dance."

He wasn't about to object, but he also noticed she kept a discrete distance between them, unlike when she was dancing with John. His mood darkened.

"So John told me what he did."

Cameron worked to keep his expression neutral. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "It was kind of an asshole thing to do."

He blinked for a second. He hadn't expected Elizabeth to be so blunt. Then he chuckled. "Yeah, it really was." He sighed and drew her a little closer, relieved when she didn't object. "But that's John for you."

"Always finding the most difficult route from point A to point B," Elizabeth agreed. "Why couldn't he have just told everyone? What's the big deal?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I'm pissed at him, but if it had been me, I really wouldn't have wanted everyone nagging me about it all the time." It was the first moment where he'd admitted even to himself that if the situation were reversed, he'd have had a hard time telling anyone either.

"And a good 'please just leave me alone about it' wasn't an option?" Elizabeth pointed out.

"Because if there's one thing we're all known for, it's keeping our noses out of each other's business," he replied.

She chuckled. "Okay, you have a point there." Her fingers brushed absently against the back of his neck and Cameron suppressed a shiver as Elizabeth shifted into casual conversation.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught John watching them rather intently. For a second Cam felt a little guilty. He remembered what John had said the other night, when they took Rodney out drinking, about how he wanted more from Elizabeth than just friends.

Earlier this evening, Cameron had thought Elizabeth had maybe made a choice.

Now, she put her head down on his shoulder, her body leaning into him, and his heart rate picked up. He locked eyes with John for a second before people drifted in between them and the moment broke. He looked down at Elizabeth, nestled comfortably in his arms, and wondered if anyone in this relationship was not confused as hell.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth hadn't really thought before what certain holidays meant for people who worked in emergency services, like firemen and doctors. Fourth of July had been a tense time because everyone at The Shack had to deal with stupid people blowing off fingers or starting backyard fires by accident. She'd learned her lesson, though, so when Halloween rolled around, she was unsurprised that most of her friends had to work.

Since she lived in an apartment and Vala lived in a condo, they both went to Rodney's for Halloween, since he lived in a house and would get trick-or-treaters. Despite his disdain for most social conventions, especially holidays, Rodney actually enjoyed Halloween. He had even carved a pumpkin to put out on the front step, though he groused about the likelihood it would get smashed overnight. He also pointed out that it was the one time of year you could walk into a grocery store and buy an entire bag of peanut butter cups without raising any eyebrows.

Elizabeth took charge of handing out the candy while behind closed doors, Vala was mixing margaritas and Rodney was snacking on caramel apples while they watched the original _Dracula_ with Bela Lugosi from Rodney's collection of classic horror movies, because it was suitably creepy and the original _Frankenstein_ with Boris Karloff was too sad.

When even the high school kids had stopped ringing the doorbell, the three of them were sitting on the couch discussing the merits of various vampire stories when there was one more knock. Rodney looked at Elizabeth but she poked him with her foot. "I'm finally comfortable. You get it."

Rodney sighed, put the movie on pause and got up. But when he answered the door, it wasn't a kid in a costume.

"Did you do this?" Radek Zelenka demanded from the doorstep. Rodney gaped, but Zelenka barreled into the house and rounded on him. "My new attorney said something today that I did not understand, until it occurred to me that nobody knew the details of my case but you." Zelenka paused for a second when he caught sight of Elizabeth, but he pivoted to face Rodney. "Was it you?"

"I... what? Wait." Rodney swung the door closed and put up a hand. "Look, I didn't do anything."

"There was nobody else it could have been!" Zelenka yelled back.

Rodney swallowed audibly, his eyes darting nervously to Elizabeth and then back to the highly agitated man standing in his living room. "I didn't break the law, or confidentiality. I just... may have talked to people who talked to other people..." Elizabeth was holding her breath, because Rodney needed to be very cautious what he said about this whole thing. If anyone found out they'd interfered, IOA would annihilate both of them.

Though she was kind of perplexed that Zelenka wasn't bowing down in gratitude that they'd gotten him a decent lawyer instead of Jay Felger, Esq.

The scientist, however, stood still for a long moment, staring at Rodney. "So it was you."

Rodney waved helplessly. There was nothing he could say that wouldn't risk his job.

As shocking as Zelenka's appearance had been, what he did next was far more stunning. He grabbed Rodney's head in his hands and kissed him on the lips.

Just as fast as it started, Zelenka let go. His face turned bright red and he babbled something that might or might not have been in another language before bolting for the door. He stopped again, though, and turned around. "I am thinking when this whole thing is over, I might be starting a business for myself. I will probably need a lawyer."

Rodney looked more floored than Elizabeth could remember seeing him. Finally he stammered out, "Um, yeah. Right. Okay."

Zelenka nodded and was gone as suddenly as he'd appeared, leaving Rodney staring at the door in total shock and Elizabeth and Vala exchanging curious looks.

Finally Vala leaned over. "You know, you were actually the one who got him the new and better lawyer, so the reward..."

Elizabeth held up a hand. "Leave me out of this."

*~*~*~*

A couple weeks after Halloween, Cameron disappeared. Jack said tersely that Cameron came in, requested to take four days personal leave with no explanation, and left town. John reported this to Elizabeth, but Cameron wasn't answering his cell phone or returning messages. She had never seen John this upset. She knew they were close, and she knew their fight still hadn't been entirely resolved, but she hoped John wasn't blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault.

On Thursday afternoon, Elizabeth rubbed her fingers against her temples and tried not to scream. The senior partners had assigned her a case involving a piece of technology being leased by a biochemical research company in Denver. The tech was from The Netherlands and Elizabeth had been handed the case because of her fluency in languages.

It seemed the partners couldn't tell the difference between German (which she spoke) and Dutch (which she didn't).

Her cell phone rang and she was relieved to see John's number until she heard him speak. "Elizabeth?"

She thought of Cameron's mysterious trip and went cold all over. "What's wrong?"

"It's Cameron. A buddy of mine just called. Someone called the police on his apartment. They said someone was trashing the place."

"I'm on my way."

*~*~*~*

Cameron paced back and forth in the corner of his living room, glaring at Bates, the cop who'd responded to the noise complaint from the prick down the hall. In the back of his mind he knew it could've been worse. Some of the cops took the rivalry between police and fire fighters a little too seriously, and Bates wasn't one of them. Otherwise Cameron could be in custody for drunk and disorderly right now.

It was only some dishes and things, really, that were busted. And he hadn't expected the shelves on his old, $15 DVD holder to collapse like they had, so that really wasn't his fault.

There was a knock on the door and John came in. Cameron had forgotten the slight tension that had still been between them since Halloween, and he started to sigh in relief until he saw Elizabeth trailing behind John.

Perfect. Just what he needed, Elizabeth seeing him staggering around, drunk and raging like a bear. And the sight of her that close to John set his teeth on edge. He wondered darkly if anything had happened between them while he'd been... away.

Wordlessly they divided up, Elizabeth maneuvering Bates towards the door, her lawyer face firmly in place. John walked over to Cameron, hands in his pockets and just stared.

Cameron stared back, stubbornly silent.

When the door closed behind Bates, John turned to Cameron, hands on his hips and snapped. "What the hell is going on?"

"John-" Elizabeth started in a placating voice, but John waved her off.

"No. My partner goes AWOL without telling me anything for four days and now I have to come keep him from getting his ass hauled to jail. I get an explanation for that."

"Like you explained to me that you were taking the exam and possibly screwing our partnership?" Cameron retorted.

"That was different," John said, exasperated.

"Yeah you sat on that for _weeks_," Cameron pointed out. He knew he was being especially pissy right now but he wasn't in much of a mood to care.

"At least you knew I was still alive," John retorted with deadly seriousness. "I didn't just vanish on you and leave you wondering if I was lying dead somewhere."

Cameron flinched, the words hitting a bit too close to home. They eyed each other for a minute and Cameron resumed his pacing. "A buddy of mine died."

He thought maybe he could get away with just that, but Elizabeth gasped. "Oh my God, Cameron. I'm sorry."

He turned away, trying to keep hold of his temper. He just couldn't take the sympathy in her face. That was why he'd ducked out without telling anyone.

"It's not... I hadn't seen him in a long time." He sighed. "We were in the Air Force together." He and Bryce had been buddies back when they were just starting out.

"What happened?" John's voice had lost the edge of anger.

"There was an accident. Some experimental plane he was flying crashed." Bryce had loved flying, almost as much as Cameron did. John loved it too, which was one of the first things they had bonded over after Cameron joined the DFD. They talked sometimes about going in together and buying a plane (who really needed a house compared to that?) but money was a little too tight still to swing it.

John, of course, had lasted even less time in the Air Force than Cameron had. Cameron had at least made it to captain before he left.

"That's terrible." Elizabeth came closer, her arms folded over herself. She'd clearly gone into comforting mode and it was scraping at his temper. "How long had it been since you'd seen him?"

Cameron hunted out the bottle Bates had taken from him. "Doesn't matter."

"Cameron!" She snuck a glance at John, who was staring at Cameron like he was trying to solve a riddle. "Of course it matters. He was your friend."

"Yeah, some friend I was."

"What does that mean?" John asked warily.

Cameron laughed and even to his own ears, it sounded vaguely hysterical. "I hated the guy, okay? He's dead and I went to his funeral and stood there and told all these fucking stories about the good old days and all I could think was I'd _still_ fucking trade his life for mine, all right?"

He was yelling and they were both cringing back but now that he'd started he couldn't stop.

"Do you know why I left the Air Force? It was because of him. Because he was the fucking golden boy who got everything, and no matter how hard I worked, it was always him. He got the promotion, he got the medals, and he got into the program."

"What program?"

He took a long swig from the bottle. "Test pilot," he grunted, glancing at John. Comprehension was dawning on John's face. "Bryce got in, and I didn't, and now he's dead probably from some plane he was testing. And me?" He laughed again, waving the bottle around at the shambles that was his apartment. "This is what I got. A job that doesn't pay for shit and a crappy one bedroom apartment. A partner who is leaving for bigger and better things, just like always. Hell, I don't even have-"

He choked off, looking at Elizabeth. He'd been about to say he didn't even have anyone in his life. But he panicked at the look on her face, which wasn't any of the expressions he would've expected.

She was _furious_.

"How dare you?" Elizabeth stood up from where she'd been leaning on the couch and advanced on him, her hands clenched into fists at her side. "How dare you say that, Cameron? How dare you be so callous and dismissive about your own life? You help people. Every day, you go home knowing you made a difference to someone, or at least you tried. Do you know how many people would kill to have that? How empty your life would be if you didn't have that comfort? And how dare you act like that doesn't matter!" At another time, he'd be pretty damn proud of her words, but Elizabeth was literally shaking in anger. "Ninety-nine percent of the people on this planet see some kind of catastrophe, they run in the opposite direction. You? Run towards it. Don't you dare dismiss that. Do you really think your life would be better if you were dead under some hunk of broken metal somewhere right now?"

He swallowed, trying to come up with something, anything to say in his own defense, but Elizabeth didn't give him a chance to speak.

"And what about me? What about all the other people you've helped? Don't you get that I thank God every night that you and John pulled me out of that car? What would've happened to me, to all those other people, if you hadn't been there?"

Guilt and shame flooded through him. He'd been acting like a selfish bastard for the last several days, wallowing so deep in his own issues he'd lost perspective. "Elizabeth, I-" he couldn't come up with anything else to say.

She had one more surprise in store for him. Without another word, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

At first he just held her loosely, but his gut was still churning from the last few days and gradually he tightened his hold, burying his face against her neck. Her fingers threaded through his hair gently and he murmured "I'm sorry" against her skin.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that, but when he turned his head a little, he felt John's hand against his back. He exchanged a look with his partner silently, and knew John wouldn't force him into any kind of verbal apology. At least for now.

Elizabeth finally let him go. "You should get cleaned up."

"Yeah, we're on call starting at 11 tonight, and you can't show up looking like Grizzly Adams," John drawled.

"M'okay," he shrugged, conscious that he really did need a shower. He smelled pretty rank and the beard growth was itching.

"I have to side with John on this one." Elizabeth's thumb grazed his cheek. "I'm usually okay with scruffy on a guy, but I think this is too much."

Cameron caught John rolling his eyes and he grinned in spite of himself.

"Now, get going while we get this cleaned up." Elizabeth started to shoo him towards the bathroom but he resisted.

"Elizabeth, you don't have to-"

She crossed her arms and stared him down and damn, she could give Janet a run for her money. "Do I have to get John to drag you in there?" she demanded.

Cameron held up his hands. "No thanks. I prefer showering alone." It wasn't until the words were out that he really considered what he was saying.

Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow and then favored him with a sultry look that made his stomach lurch. "You have no idea what you're missing."

She turned away and headed for the kitchen. John and Cameron both stood there and watched her go. Cameron couldn't stop the images of a wet, naked Elizabeth from splashing in full Technicolor through his mind.

John also looked a little mind-whacked, until Elizabeth called for him. They shared a look and John obeyed. Cameron went into the bathroom, thinking a quick – and cold – shower was probably a very good idea.


	3. Chapter 3

The holiday season was upon them.

Although Thanksgiving had yet to roll around, Elizabeth was a little annoyed to already see Christmas decorations everywhere. As far she was concerned, that was putting the cart before the horse and she preferred to savor some turkey before the panic of non-stop gift shopping settled in. In any case, while she'd been enjoying the pleasant and tempered weather of Denver thus far, the chill of winter undeniably began to blanket the city as the first snow fell in early November. Of course, four days later it was 65 degrees again. She started wearing layers all the time to be prepared for all weather contingencies, while long-time Denver residents told stories of wearing shorts on Christmas, as well as blizzards.

Thanksgiving would be a small occasion this year. Her mother was visiting her brother's place in California, and in previous years, this usually meant she'd be spending the holiday with Simon's family. Elizabeth realized with some surprise that she hadn't been alone for the holiday season in the last decade of her life, and it was little weird and, yes, slightly depressing for her to have to go about making holiday plans all by herself.

She wasn't alone, of course. Janet was having everyone in their little circle of friends over for turkey after she got off her hospital shift. John and Cameron and the gang from the fire house would be there in between their shifts, and Elizabeth was, as usual, bringing Vala and Rodney. Only Evan would be absent, because he was going to his girlfriend's parents house, a fact which Teyla gleefully reported. Teyla had been spending some time with Kate to make her feel less uncomfortable around the guys at the fire house, and she, Elizabeth, Vala and Janet had started a betting pool on how long it would take Evan to propose.

Then the weekend before Thanksgiving, Elizabeth got a phone call that added another person to the guest list for the holiday.

*~*~*~*

She had met Daniel in their first grueling year of law school, and solidarity over insane workloads and demanding classes had quickly forged a friendship that had lasted through the years. They'd lost touch for a while, but then a couple of years ago Daniel had moved to D.C. to work at a humanitarian foundation. His friendship had been one of her escape outlets from Simon. He'd been the one to help her through the break-up, both in listening to her venting and aiding her in packing her things and getting them out of the house. He'd been her shoulder to cry on through the whole ordeal, even offering to beat Simon up more than once, which had been rather funny given Daniel's pacifist tendencies.

After she picked him up from the airport on Tuesday night and taken him back to her apartment, Elizabeth had cooked a small meal while he freshened up. The smell of garlic was wafting through the place when he padded into her kitchen, and only Daniel would have been dorky enough to be wearing a sweater that had a big picture of a turkey sewn onto the front. She laughed and he grinned, and they sat down at the table for dinner, quickly lost in conversation as they caught up with each other's lives.

Daniel worked with a non-profit group that helped refugees. It was exactly the kind of thankless, insurmountable and necessary work she always thought Daniel would end up doing. He was a relentless champion of hopeless causes.

Elizabeth couldn't help but get a little snarky about her new job. She was enjoying the work itself, just not the environment. Although with Vala and Rodney around, it was never dull.

They finished dinner and were nibbling on the black and white cookies he'd brought her from D.C. when Daniel looked down at the table. "Elizabeth, there's something I have to tell you."

Unconsciously, she braced herself, wondering if something was wrong with him.

Daniel expelled a breath. "Simon's getting married."

She was frozen for a moment. It had to be the woman he had cheated on her with, the medical transcription worker. No way Simon would have dumped that woman and found someone else and be ready for marriage that fast.

Daniel looked up at her again. "I didn't want you to hear about this from someone over the phone or something."

She nodded mechanically. Simon was getting married.

It hurt. And it didn't hurt at all.

"Elizabeth?" Daniel had that frowny face he always made behind his glasses.

She swallowed. "I'm okay."

It was the final rejection, she supposed. Not that she had expected or even wanted Simon to turn up with an armful of roses begging her to take him back or anything. She didn't want him back, didn't want to go back to a life of suffocating sameness and bad sex.

Daniel clearly didn't believe her. She shook herself. "It hurts, you know? Not being chosen."

"Elizabeth." He got up and sat down in the chair next to her and took her hand. "He was never good enough for you, you know." She laughed a little at that. Daniel and Simon had never gotten along terribly well, and though he'd never said it until the relationship started to fall apart, she knew Daniel had felt that way for a long time. "You can do better."

She thought fleetingly of John and Cameron as Daniel pulled her into a hug.

*~*~*~*

Daniel had meetings on Wednesday. That night he insisted on taking her out to dinner in exchange for her housing him. They went to the Italian place Vala had introduced Elizabeth to. He vented a bit about his frustrations with the people he was confronting who didn't seem to want to be bothered with his arguments.

Elizabeth suggested a few strategies, and suddenly Daniel was looking at her oddly. "What?"

He set his fork down. "Okay, I haven't been entirely honest about why I'm here." He leaned closer. "Elizabeth, my boss wants to offer you a job."

For the second time in as many days, Daniel had managed to shock her into utter silence.

He went on, talking about how badly her skills at handling business and corporate interests were needed by his organization, how much of an asset she could be, how many people it could help. "And you could come back to D.C. I mean, I understand why you wanted to get away for a while, but Elizabeth, you don't belong here. IOA doesn't appreciate you and you're not stretching yourself there. You're a world-class attorney, Elizabeth. You should be in D.C. where you can make a difference."

It wasn't all that often she was this flummoxed. Daniel talked intermittently the whole way home from the restaurant, about salaries and cases. After they got home he finally folded his arms and stared at her. "You've barely said ten words all night. What are you thinking?"

"Honestly? I don't really know. This is so out of left field, Daniel." He looked like he was going to start in on his sales pitch again and she held up a hand. "I just, I need to think about this for a bit. I'm finally settled in here. I know where the grocery stores and the good coffee places are. I hadn't even been remotely thinking about leaving."

"Grocery stores and coffee are things we have in D.C., Elizabeth," he said. She loved Daniel dearly, she really did, but he could be snotty as hell sometimes. "You have a career to think of."

She didn't sleep much that night. Thanksgiving was kind of a blur, and she didn't get to see either Cameron or John at Janet's, because they were on shift during the day and Daniel's flight was very early Friday morning, so they left not long after dinner. Although that was also partly because Elizabeth felt it prudent to get Daniel away from Vala as quickly as possible. Daniel flew home after extracting a promise from her to think seriously about the possibility until his boss sent out an official offer. The rest of the week she was distracted at work and felt bizarrely like she had to keep her distance from everyone. She didn't completely avoid John and Cameron, or the girls, but she dodged behind excuses of having a lot of work to do while her mind churned helplessly.

Daniel's points were all valid, and the job would be an enormous opportunity to do real good, make a real impact on the world. She knew that her current work did help people. Working with bioengineering firms and medical research facilities was helping people, it just wasn't as immediate as other areas of law. Though truthfully, she was starting to doubt that IOA was the place for her in the long-term. What Dr. Zelenka had told Rodney about needing a lawyer to start his company had been lurking in the back of her mind for the last several weeks while she thought idly about what she, Rodney and Vala might be able to accomplish without the senior partners at IOA breathing down their necks.

None of that was serious, though, not compared to Daniel's genuine offer. Plus, she had to admit, the thought of going back to D.C. in triumph had a strong appeal.

But she also couldn't overlook the down sides. Her spacious two-bedroom apartment in Denver cost what a rat hole in D.C. cost. She worked long hours here but she also could put her work down at some point and go home, at least periodically. And she'd seen first-hand the toll struggling against such enormous odds took on Daniel and his colleagues.

Then there were her friends. Vala and Rodney could survive without her, of course, but Elizabeth wasn't so sure she wanted to work in a place full of people like Daniel, who were so intent on their cause they could be humorless. She had Teyla and Janet, Ronon and Evan and his girlfriend who was slowly becoming more comfortable around everybody. Elizabeth hadn't had friends like this in D.C. She'd had "her and Simon's" friends, which had been an amalgamation of lawyers and doctors who were always more colleagues than real friends. She hadn't known how starved she was for comfortable companionship until she got to Denver and realized on any given weekend if she felt a desire to get out of the house and be sociable, there was almost always someone she could call. She hadn't had that since probably law school.

In later months, though, Elizabeth would admit to what she steadfastly pretended to ignore: the real reason she didn't want to leave Denver was because of John and Cameron. She told herself it was her friends that made her want to stay, but really, she couldn't bear the thought of leaving them.

*~*~*~*

By the time Engine 13 had shown up for the call at the corner of Anderson Street, the fire had engulfed more than half of the apartment building. Cameron gave it a quick survey from the outside as the engine blared and pulled up short of the curb, and he knew even from a distance that the structural integrity of the building was a precarious thing. They were also the first unit on the scene. Cameron tossed a look towards John, who was shrugging on his jacket, and shook his head.

"Shit," he declared.

John moved to peer over Cameron's shoulder out the window. "We need to go in now."

While the rest of them grabbed their equipment, O'Neill was already talking with the group of bystanders watching the burning edifice, getting a lay of the situation and how many people were still presumed to be inside. Cameron threw on his gear and watched Jack approach them.

Jack's face looked hard. "Alright, campers, Engine 7 is two minutes away, and there are at least three families unaccounted for. Sheppard, Mitchell, you're the primary team. Dex and Emmagan, take the lower floors. Two in, two out," he affirmed, as if any of them needed to hear it.

"Two in, two out" referred to the rule they lived by – you only go into dangerous situations in pairs, and the only way one person came out was if both of them came out. No one got left behind.

They quickly secured their masks in place and Cameron threw on his helmet, running up the front steps and through the entryway. The sting of heat greeted them at the door and as they quickly found the staircase and started taking the steps two at a time, Cameron looked up the spiraling staircase and saw the inferno swelling on the fourth level. John was trudging up behind him, and the two of them quickly climbed to the third floor.

They knocked the stairwell door open and entered the hallway, and the smoke was so bad that anything more than two or three feet ahead of them was entirely obscured.

They worked flawlessly as a team. Maneuvering swiftly through one room after another, the search was, as always, exhaustively thorough – they hunted through cabinets, closets and checked under beds, as such extensive measures were necessary in cases for children. They found an old married couple in the fourth apartment, huddling behind an overturned sofa and John managed to get the hysterical woman moving towards the exit as Cameron assisted the elderly man, who just looked plain shell-shocked. The woman was panicking and screaming at him, so Cameron nearly missed the blur of white movement from the corner of his eye.

"Sheppard," he called. "I'm going to check something out down the hall."

John nodded and continued to usher the couple out the door, and Cameron turned back and wandered down the hallway, one gloved-hand gliding against the dark-sooted walls as he moved. He peered into the darkness, trying to find the source of the movement. But things were too dark and everything was too noisy, and Cameron knew the fire was blazing full stop just on the opposite side of the bedroom wall. He could feel the heat of it like a suffocating blanket, and he knew within seconds the entire apartment would be beyond reach.

Giving the bedroom one last glance, a cat suddenly scurried out at him from nowhere and scared the crap out of him. He recovered, swearing up a storm as he grabbed blindly at the small, white animal, but it ducked away, running for the open door.

"You're welcome," Cameron muttered.

His radio cackled to life before Cameron could think another disparaging thought, and he heard Ronon's frantic voice. "Teyla's down! We need back up on two! I repeat, man down, we need back up on two!"

Cameron's legs were moving before he even made the conscious decision. He followed the cat into the living room, where the smoke was even thicker than before. He was disoriented for a second, struggling to remember which direction the door was in. That was when he heard the ominous creaking sound, the noise that alerted him to the weight of a structure craving in on itself. He glanced around, and then looked up at the ceiling. "Shit," he declared for the second time that day.

And then the entire ceiling came down on top of him.

*~*~*~*

John was in the hallway when he heard the crash, and he had just enough time to shove the older man down to the ground before the debris came flying towards them. He covered the civilian, body blanketing him like a human shield. After a moment, John lifted his head and coughed, looking back up to see the fallen debris of the ceiling littering the floor and the fire from above swarming down into the hallway.

"Cameron!" he barked, panic flooding through him. "Cameron, you all right?"

No answer came, but before John could climb to his feet, the man underneath him gave a groan and John snapped back to reality. He helped the man stand up and then guided him swiftly down the rest of the hallway, towards the staircase where other firemen were quickly making their way up. The additional units had arrived and were covering the rest of the building. The elderly woman was already waiting for them, standing a few steps below, face upturned to them with a stark expression of fear written across her face.

"Ma'am," he tried to reassure, all the while thinking of Cameron. "Everything will be alright. Let these men take care of you two!" John's eyes connected with one of the masked men from another unit whom he didn't recognize, and he nodded. "I've got my partner back there!"

The fireman nodded his understanding. "Go!"

Leaving the civilians in the hands of the other firemen, he quickly rushed back, but by the time he had made it to the hallway, the place had already been taking over by the fire and the red specter of it blocked his path.

"Cameron!" he shouted again, and again, he got no answer.

He reached for his radio and called it in, but that was when he realized that Teyla was already hurt on level two. Shit. Two men were down on two separate floors, and the place was quickly turning into a giant inferno. He debated the options and knew his best bet was to wait for more men to arrive so that he wouldn't wander in blind and make the situation a three-man casualty.

But Cameron was somewhere behind that rubble, maybe even under it, and the fire was spreading too damn fast. All sense of self-preservation abandoned him. Staring for a moment at the wall of fire that blocked his path, John took one deep breath and barreled through like he was made of stone. The fire swirled around him, the heat stealing his breath, but John hurdled through the barricade anyway. When he finally reached past the swell of flames, his left arm and leg had caught on fire and John stubbed it out swiftly with his hands, the familiar smell of burnt flesh already wafting into the air. John paid no attention to the pain, barely even registering it under the fuel of adrenaline.

He turned back and began his search for Cameron.

*~*~*~*

Cameron came to with what already was a world-class headache. His lungs ached and he realized his helmet and mask had come off, meaning he couldn't radio for help.

He tried to push himself up onto his elbows and he nearly screamed. There was a large metal beam trapping his lower body, and the searing pressure in his legs was hellish. Worse, Cameron knew he had a whopper of a head injury. He gritted his teeth and refocused, drawing a deep breath as he peered up at the ceiling. The fire was dancing above him, a subtle swell of flames that painted the crumbling ceiling with just the barest hints of red.

Shit.

He tried to lift the beam from atop of him, but it didn't budge, and struggling against the dead weight, Cameron let loose a bellow of frustration and fell back onto his back.

This was bad.

He groaned, clenching his jaw. It was bad, but not hopeless. Not yet. He braced himself. If he couldn't lift the beam up, maybe he could wiggle his way out.

"Cameron!" The muffled voice came from the other side of the apartment.

"John?" he hollered back, relief flooding him, making his voice raw and higher than normal. "John, I'm in here!"

A moment later, John emerged through the back room and Cameron would have laid a big sloppy kiss on the man if he had been able to. "Never been so happy to see your ugly face," he managed to grit out.

"You always hated that I'm prettier than you," John shot back without missing a beat, studying the beam and Cameron's position on the floor, as well as the fire licking its merry way across the room towards them.

"Teyla?" Cameron asked.

"Don't know yet."

"Damn it," Cameron cursed. "Well get me out so we can find--John, watch out!"

John dove just in time before more of the crumbling ceiling gave way again, but Cameron wasn't so lucky. The added weight crashed onto the beam and Cameron's vision went dark for a minute. The flames quickly spread to the rubble and Cameron was trapped under insufferable heat and immobile weight. Cameron choked and coughed, head spinning around like a top, and he knew it was only a matter of time. The structural integrity of the entire room was going to gave way.

He glanced back at John, who was recovering on all fours, and screamed. "Go! Get out of here!" John looked up, eyes locking onto his and he sent a dark, almost vicious glare in Cameron's direction. "Get the fuck out of here."

"Like hell!" John screamed back, and scrambled to his feet. "Two in, two out, remember?"

Stupid, stubborn son of a bitch was going to get himself killed too.

Coughs began to wrack his chest as John threaded his way through the debris. Cameron clamped his mouth shut, head spinning, and John was by his side again. "Stay awake, damn it," John muttered, almost as a threat, bending to lift the beam. "Stay awake, Cameron!"

But when John scuttled under the end of the metal and began to shift the beam, Cameron passed out from the pain almost instantly.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth was in her car when she heard about the fire on the radio.

One moment she'd been contemplating a quick swing by her favorite Chinese place and then the news abruptly caught her attention. The only thing registering with her for a full couple of seconds was the report of firemen and civilians injured in a downtown fire, and that there were more than four casualties thus far. One of them had been declared DOA at St. Anthony's.

Her heart lodged itself in her throat. She couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe.

Digging through her purse for her cell phone, half her attention was on the road as she dialed with one hand. She spun the car around and took the quickest path to the hospital, speed-dialing first Cameron and then John. Neither answered, and cursing under her breath, Elizabeth scrolled down all her contacts at the Shack - from Teyla to Lorne to Jack and then, finally, she remembered, Janet worked at St. Anthony's.

No one was picking up.

Then suddenly there was a flash of lights, and Elizabeth nearly careened headfirst into another vehicle. She slammed on the breaks, and the blare of angry horns screamed at her as Elizabeth's car screeched to a halt, barely managing to stop in time. The other driver lobbied a vulgar word at her and sped off, but Elizabeth sat silently, hands trembling on the steering wheel as she instantly flashed back to the car crash from months ago.

She swallowed hard, and took a few steadying breaths. Getting into another car accident wasn't going to help the situation, she told herself. And God help her if Cameron and John found out she'd been so reckless. She'd never hear the end of it.

Assuming they were both still alive. She pushed that thought away sharply.

She finally arrived at St. Anthony's and pulled up into the parking lot, she grabbed her purse and made a mad dash to get inside. The doors swished open for her, and before she could even make it to the receptionist's desk at the front, she saw Lorne standing in the waiting area with a bunch of other firemen she didn't recognize. All of them looked worn and beaten, and their faces were completely grim.

She pulled up short, the fear inside of her nearly a living, breathing entity. "Evan," she breathed, and he looked up and saw her. "Where are they?"

But before Lorne could manage a response, Elizabeth spotted John from afar on one of the gurneys settled in the hallway. Her knees nearly buckled with relief when she saw him. He looked hollowed out, though, with his back against the wall and feet drawn up against his chest. Even hunkered down on the mattress, John looked like a gust of wind could knock him over. There were bandages all along his left arm, and his face and clothes were covered in soot and grime. She could barely recognize him under the layers of dirt, but the moment she saw him, all she could comprehend was that John was alive.

Abandoning Lorne without another word, she started down the stretch of the hallway, and her limbs felt like lead as she moved. John lifted his head and spotted her when she was halfway across, and he stood to greet her. Before Elizabeth was even aware of it, her body had made the choice her brain hadn't yet commanded and she was hugging him in the middle of the crowded hallway. He seemed surprised by the contact, as if he didn't know what to do with such an embrace, but Elizabeth tightened her arms around him and for one brief moment, everything else ceased to exist. His arms slowly curled around her, almost hesitant as if she was the one injured and not him - like he was afraid of hurting _her_.

She pulled back, and there was a moment before he glanced away where she saw a well of emotions on his face. "I heard, and I thought you were-" she began, but John quickly cut her off, still flustered.

"Yeah, I know."

"You okay?"

He shrugged, trying to be casual about it but the effect was ruined when he immediately winced. "Nothing really. Some first degree burns. I've had worse."

Elizabeth took a steadying breath, her own emotions a little too close to the surface for her to react to that statement in any rational way. She glanced sideways and then down the hall. "John, where's Cameron?"

John's face closed off.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth had been preparing herself for the worst. When she walked into Cameron's room with John on her heels, she was convinced she'd find him bedridden and covered in bandages from head to toe. The story John had told her – about Cameron passing out in the middle of the fire, trapped under rubble – had been so horrifying to listen to. She couldn't imagine the strength it had taken John to pull Cameron out of there, but that was what they were trained to do every day. She had just never pictured Cameron as one of the bodies he'd be forced to carry out.

If John hadn't been there… it was too nauseating to think about.

So when she entered the hospital room, she anticipated that Cameron would in the worst state her imagination could conjure up. She had never been happier to be proven wrong in her entire life.

Cameron was asleep, and there were a few bandages covering his arm and one wrapped around his head. Other than that, though, he looked remarkably peaceful as he slumbered. Elizabeth didn't want to disturb him, but she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and grasping one of his limp hands in hers. His palm was ice-cold, and Elizabeth stroked a thumb across the back of his knuckles.

"He's on the good drugs," John mumbled behind her, and Elizabeth glanced at him. She could see him struggling to reestablish his normal equilibrium, see his attempts to slip back into his casual demeanor. Except his shoulders were too tense and his eyes were too tired as he continued, "You could hit him with a truck and he wouldn't budge right now. Janet says the worst he's got is some burns, bruised ribs and a concussion." He rolled his eyes. "I always thought he had a thick head."

"He was lucky to have you there."

Instead of bravado, he simply nodded. "He would have done the same for me."

Elizabeth stretched out her free hand for him. After a moment's hesitation, John slowly reached for her, almost unsure of the gesture. Elizabeth tugged him closer. John settled beside her quietly, and Elizabeth trembled slightly with relief. John stood on one side, and her other hand rested in the palm of Cameron's, and Elizabeth felt something slip into place in that instant; a click she couldn't define, and an emotion she couldn't hide.

She sighed. "You know, I thought... God, you two scared me tonight," Elizabeth whispered, unwilling to look back at John. She settled for watching Cameron's dormant figure, forcing her voice even as she continued, "I was in the car when I heard the radio, and I panicked so bad I nearly got into a car accident – another car accident. How ironic would that have been?"

"Elizabeth-" he tried to cut in, but she spoke over him.

"I have never been so scared in my entire life," Elizabeth breathed, "not even in the accident. You two scared the hell out of me tonight."

She turned her head to glance up at him and found he was staring at her. Unlike moments ago, though, John wasn't struggling to conceal his feelings anymore. Instead, they were painfully clear and obvious, so raw that it quickly overwhelmed anything else she had to say. She could sense the surprise rolling off of him in waves – that same sense of shock she had felt when she had earlier hugged him, like he was stunned that anyone would be that concerned over his welfare.

Elizabeth was struck with how unsettled he was with showing any type of vulnerability. For a second, she questioned his past – about the woman that had once been his wife – and wondered what kind of relationships he had had if he was so uncomfortable with the simplest displays of affection and words of endearment.

"I-" Elizabeth began.

But then he tugged at her hand and brought her forward, and before Elizabeth could even register the transition, his lips were moving over hers. It was the frailest of touches, and she could tell with the very first brush of contact that the maneuver had caught him by surprise as much as it had her. He seemed hesitant and unsure, and Elizabeth _ached_ for him. Her hands slipped free and she turned, burying them in his hair.

In the many months since meeting John Sheppard, she had imagined her first kiss with him an insane number of times. In most of her fantasies, he had always been flirtatious and confident in his seduction. She had gone to bed more than once thinking about the different ways John would kiss her, but none of them – absolutely none of them – ever came close to this. It was too light to be triggering such an erratic beating of her heart, but Elizabeth felt it sear through her body. His lips tasted like ash, but that only made her cling harder.

The moment was shattered when the door suddenly opened.

They pulled apart, and Jack was standing in the doorway, brows lifted at the sight of their entangled embrace. Elizabeth flushed red at being caught, and without thinking, they both separated a little and Elizabeth quickly returned to her bedside vigil. John stepped back, hovering somewhere behind her, but Elizabeth suddenly focused all her attention on Cameron's prone body.

"I can come back?" Jack offered lamely.

Elizabeth shook her head, thrown back to reality like a bucket of cold water had been splashed on her. John was speaking over her when she tried to open her mouth, "No. No," he sounded just as thrown as she felt. "It's cool."

Although the sight of Cameron did much to focus her, a part of her was still reeling from the kiss. She had no idea what it meant, if John had even intended it, or if it had been a spur of the moment embrace – a mistake. In any case, it had left her floored and Elizabeth struggled to cover her confusion. When Jack pulled up beside her, her eyes skidded away and she fidgeted, feeling flustered.

She had to give Jack credit, though. He played ignorance with the best of him. He made no outward sign that he had just walked in on anything at all.

Instead, casually, he just looked to John and said, "So… did you know they have an ice-cream vending machine downstairs?"

*~*~*~*

Somewhere after midnight, the nurses began to insist that the official visiting hours were long over and that the majority of firefighters loitering in the hallways needed to leave. Not all of them, they conceded, but a few. None were obliging. Before an incident could occur, John stepped forward and volunteered to instruct some of the other fireman to leave. They wouldn't like it. There had been one civilian casualty, a woman who had been pronounced DOA several hours ago. In addition to that, there were Cameron and Teyla, both being treated for burns, and one other fireman named Kawalsky from Engine 7 that was still in the ICU.

The other firefighters wouldn't leave without a fight, and Jack happily relinquished the task to John. Though, truthfully, John retreated from Cameron's room just to get some distance from Elizabeth. He needed to refocus and get some perspective, and he couldn't get his head on straight with Elizabeth so close by.

That kiss… Jesus, where the hell had that kiss come from?

John scrubbed a hand through his hair as he walked down the hallway, and sighed. He was too damn tired to be thinking about that right now. There was a bone-weary exhaustion that was working through his body, and he suspected that was what had made him lose his inhibitions and kiss Elizabeth. He'd wanted to for months. It was the intensity of the last few hours that was making him act rashly, almost blindly. But kissing her while Cameron slumbered in a hospital bed not two feet from them was not how he'd pictured the event.

He needed to sleep. He need to unwind a little, because right now he was so tired and wound so tight, and the only thing he kept focusing on was Elizabeth's lips against his.

John wove through the halls to the waiting room, but Janet had beaten him to the punch. The small doctor had already herded most of the men towards the door, and Lorne waved casually to him from the exit. John gestured a phone signal with his hands, promising to call him with any important updates, and Lorne nodded his thanks back and left.

Janet turned back and saw him. "I don't suppose I can get you to head home, either? You could use the rest, John."

John shook his head, and warned, "Don't even try it, Janet."

She released a forceful breath, but left it at that. As she retreated down the hallway, John turned back to the waiting room. There were only two firemen left in the lobby, both from Engine 7. He vaguely knew them. One was Jonas – Quentin, something? Quinn. Yeah. Jonas Quinn. And the other was Teal'c, a large man who put Ronon to shame in the muscles department. John talked with them for a few moments, getting an update on Kawalsky, but things weren't looking remotely good. John knew better than to offer any condolences, so the conversation only hovered over superficial, pleasant topics.

"You call any of Cameron's family?"

John shook his head. "He's got family in Kansas, I think, but he'd kill me if I called them now. They tend to be the worrying type."

Jonas smiled, though it came out a little grim. "That must be nice. You've got to love family."

John wouldn't know. Everybody in the world that gave a crap about him was here in this hospital. The thought brought him back to Elizabeth - to the hug and the kiss. It threw his head a little, like he was breathing in fumes. Smothering a laugh, he didn't think she'd see that as something particularly romantic. John couldn't even explain it himself, but he was just too exhausted to try to dissect his thought processes right now.

After a few more minutes of idle chit-chat, John bid his farewell and made his way down the corridor to Teyla's room. As expected, she was sound asleep like Cameron, and Ronon had his feet planted on the edge of her bed, reclined back in one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs like a lion lazing about. His place beside her was unquestionable and unwavering, and John knew even Janet wouldn't dare suggest to the big guy that he leave for the night.

"Hey," he whispered in respect to Teyla's sleeping form.

Ronon cracked open his eyes. "Hey."

"How's Teyla?"

"About what you'd expect," Ronon answered with a shrug. "She's already bitching about going home, so you know she'll be back to work in no time."

John grinned a little and nodded, rocking on the balls of his feet slightly. Teyla might be the smallest firefighter he'd ever seen, but she was without a doubt one of the toughest. He'd seen her handle situations that would throw most grown men into hysteria with nothing but a serene calm and an eerie proficiency. Most firefighters went their entire lives without mastering that type of courage under pressure, but she'd had that as a freaking probie. It was why she'd been accepted by them all despite the so-called handicap of being a woman.

Jack entered through the door behind him, apparently making his latest rounds in between keeping vigil over Kawalsky. He'd been moving from one room to another all night long, never resting at one place for any extended period of time. It'd be easier if Cameron and Teyla could just share a room, but hospital policy about gender and roommates and all that prevented it. Cameron and Teyla practically lived together at the Shack, of course, but that didn't matter here.

The three men stood watch over Teyla's sleeping figure for a brief period of time, the silence punctuated every few minutes by small talk. None of them were willing to voice the dark thoughts in their heads, though – that their unit was lucky they hadn't sustained anything more serious than a few burns. John thought of Unit 7, Jack's old crew, Jonas and Teal'c sitting in the grim waiting area, the ICU room where Kawalsky was probably dying. He closed his eyes and thanked God that it wasn't either Teyla or Cameron, though the thought made him feel slightly guilty. But his unit was safe, and for a moment, John was willing to let that mean everything.

Breaking the silence, Jack muttered a little angrily, "You know..." The words trailed off and Jack sighed, shaking his head a little, and abruptly he turned and started walking out the door. John barely heard the mumbling as he retreated, "I'm getting way too old for this shit."

*~*~*~*

Everything was white and fuzzy and it took a really long time for Cameron to let himself wake up. He was dimly aware of distant sounds and movement for quite a while before he registered that he felt kind of cold. After that he couldn't ignore the sensation and finally he dragged his eyes open.

Given the last things he could remember clearly involved flames and a building falling on his head, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up in the hospital room and see his own body stretched out before him. He wiggled his toes experimentally, profoundly relieved when the blanket crumpled over his feet.

"Morning, lazybones."

Cameron turned his head to see his partner, looking beat to hell, stretching in a folding chair and rubbing his neck like it hurt. He opened his mouth and tried to ask if John had been sleeping in the cheap plastic chair but he couldn't talk. His mouth and throat were so dry he began to choke.

John got to his feet and in a moment held a cup of water with a straw sticking out of it to Cameron's mouth. He gulped greedily, his throat raw when he coughed. John looked down at him worriedly. Cameron could see smudges of dirt still on his face, and bandages on his arm. But John was alive and mobile and Cameron still had his arms and legs. He'd take it.

John leaned against the bed. "How're you feeling?"

"Like a building that was on fire came down on my head?" he muttered.

John rolled his eyes.

Cameron shifted to put his arms under the thin blanket. "You tell me, how'm I doing?"

"You've got some bruised ribs and a concussion."

He blinked. "That's it?"

John's grin flickered over his face in spite of the tiredness. "Head like a rock."

"Got that right." He let that sink in for a minute. It wasn't every day you got to walk away from a collapsing inferno with playground injuries. "So what happened?"

John filled him in on dragging his ass out of the building over his own shoulders, and on Teyla being hit by a falling wall but escaping any serious injuries as well. But Cameron knew John was holding something back.

He didn't say anything. He just looked at John expectantly.

His partner's eyes darkened. "Kawalsky, from 7. Died at about 5am."

Cameron shut his eyes for a minute. He didn't know the man personally, but he knew Kawalsky had been around for a long time and worked with O'Neill back in the day. Jack was probably pretty cut up right now.

John shifted slightly. "Funeral's going to be in a couple days. Janet thinks you'll be out of here by this afternoon."

He nodded, thinking now that he was awake he should tell John to go home and shower and get some rest himself. But John wasn't looking at him. He was staring down at his feet and rocking back and forth. For someone who hated revealing personal stuff, John had certain tells that were a million miles wide. "What?" he asked, wondering what other horrible news his friend was holding back.

Before John could answer, though, there was a knock on the door, and Elizabeth came in. John stepped away as she smiled at Cameron and approached the bed. "You're awake!"

"Hey, you look vaguely familiar," he told her, grinning.

She rolled her eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "How're you feeling?"

"Everything's a little flakey around the edges still, actually. Probably why I'm hallucinating pretty brunettes who haven't been returning phone calls."

Elizabeth blushed and darted a look over at John. "Yes, I'm sorry about that. Something came up." Ever since Thanksgiving Elizabeth hadn't been around much. He'd left a couple messages and knew John had probably done the same, but she hadn't responded.

"What, did you start some torrid affair with the milkman?" he joked. Elizabeth stiffened, just for a second, and Cameron swallowed, an uncomfortable panic rising in him. But she shook her head, fussing with his pillows.

"No, nothing that exciting, I'm afraid. A friend of mine was in town over the holiday and his boss offered me a job."

John, who had retreated to the window, bolted upright at that information. He shared a panicked look with Cameron.

"And where is this job?" he asked, trying for casual and probably failing completely.

"In Washington." She glanced at John and then down at him and seemed to finally register their alarm. "I'm turning it down."

He couldn't help the sigh of relief, and when John let out a long breath as well, Elizabeth's cheeks turned pink and she looked almost bashful. She placed a hand over Cameron's through the sheet and squeezed. "Sorry, you're not quite rid of me just yet."

"Good," was all he said because he couldn't come up with anything else to say.

Elizabeth asked about his prognosis and promised to come by and visit that night, either here or at his apartment if he got released. Cameron remembered it was a weekday and she had to get to work. It felt surreal for a second, that the rest of the world was going on as usual outside. Janet appeared as if on cue and Elizabeth, just before she left, leaned over and kissed his cheek. She'd never done that before. Their eyes met for a minute and it seemed like he could read a wealth of information in that one look.

She left and Janet gave him the run down of his injuries and what to expect, finishing with her "if you're a good boy you can go home today" speech. He repressed a groan and Janet charged off to her next patient or crisis. He was surprised he was a little tired already, and thought he should take advantage of the peace and quiet while he had it.

He told John he ought to go home and clean up. John ignored him, taking a deep breath. Cameron had forgotten John's nervousness of a few minutes ago. John looked Cameron right in the eyes and blurted out, "I kissed her."

Cameron was completely confused for a second. John had kissed Janet?

Then reality caught up to him. Elizabeth. John had kissed _Elizabeth_.

He opened his mouth and then couldn't think of anything to say.

John had his hands in his pockets. "It just kind of happened."

"When?"

"Here, last night. She heard about the fire on the radio and came here looking for us."

He nodded. His brain was still muffled by the drugs but he could see that John was beyond exhausted and last night had probably been hell for him. Cameron got the easy part. He was unconscious for most of it. Knowing how John felt about Elizabeth, he could see where that last bit of self-control would snap, at least on John's part, when she turned up at the hospital to find him.

He licked his lips, not wanting to know and unable not to ask. "And did she...?"

"Yeah."

"And did you-?" Part of him was pleading with the universe that it hadn't gone beyond kissing and what kind of lousy friend was he to be thinking that? John finally made a move and the woman he had so clearly fallen for kissed him back and Cameron was rooting against him?

But John shook his head. "No. It was just a kiss." He scrubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I don't even know... we didn't really talk about it or anything. It was probably just a stress reaction or something."

"Yeah," he mumbled, not sure whether he agreed or not. He'd known Elizabeth was interested in John for a while now. He hadn't realized that had become more than just passive, though. And what the hell was she doing kissing him on the cheek today?

Cameron glanced over at his partner. John was looking at him anxiously, biting his lower lip.

The silence stretched and got more awkward by the second.

Jack came in at that propitious moment looking, for the first time in Cameron's memory, old.

John bolted for the door, with a muttered promise to be back to drive Cameron home later on, leaving Cameron to answer his boss's questions and wonder if any of the three people in this relationship was _not_ confused as hell.

*~*~*~*~*

 

Elizabeth finished loading the shopping bags into her car and got behind the wheel to head to Cameron's. The week following the fire had passed quietly. Cameron and Teyla were both on medical leave for a few days. She'd gone to visit them both, but the day of the funeral, she stayed away. As much as she cared about them all, there were certain things she didn't have the right to trespass upon and the day a fellow fire fighter was buried was one of those things.

Today, Saturday, Teyla was back at work. Cameron went back on Monday. Elizabeth was leaving town to go to her mother's house for Christmas, so she had decided she, John and Cameron should hold their Christmas celebration together tonight.

Plus she'd noticed Cameron's apartment was completely bare of any kind of decorations. Elizabeth's apartment was decked out with a full sized tree, garlands, wreaths, figurines and lights. John had a small tabletop tree and a Santa Claus Snoopy doll in his apartment. When she asked, Cameron had just shrugged and said he didn't have any.

Elizabeth intended to fix that. She wasn't leaving Cameron in that shoddy little place without any holiday cheer for the rest of the month, whether he liked it or not.

She drove through the afternoon mall traffic, relieved all her gift buying was now finished. She checked the clock. John was supposed to arrive with the Chinese food around 6, so they'd have a little time to get the decorations up first.

She hadn't talked to John about that stolen kiss at the hospital. John looked nervous every time she spoke to him and Cameron looked a little uncomfortable and Elizabeth's brilliant and mature response was to simply pretend it hadn't happened and act like everything was normal. It had just been a momentary reaction, that was all. She'd been so scared they were hurt or worse, and John had just been through something traumatic, and they both just reacted. It was just stress. Nothing more.

And it was going to stay that way. She'd decided during the week - when she'd been telling herself she wasn't going to obsess about this while she continue to do exactly that - that much as she liked John, much as she was attracted to both of them, she couldn't let anything romantic occur with either of them. It would screw up their friendship, and they were too important to her to let their relationship get mucked up that way. And she couldn't choose between them. The thought of rejecting either of them was almost physically painful.

So she just wouldn't. And everything would be okay.

Her cell phone rang and expecting it to be Cameron asking where she was, she answered without looking at the number, "Hello?"

"Elizabeth?"

It was a good thing she was at a light, otherwise she might've run the car off the road at the sound of Simon's voice. What the hell was it about this town that every major event in her life involved moving vehicles and accidents?

"Simon?"

"Hi, how are you?"

Elizabeth pulled into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant rather than try to drive and handle this conversation at the same time. "I'm doing good. Getting ready for Christmas, you know. How're you?"

Simon chattered for a minute about his practice and some of their mutual friends. Her heart was thudding loudly in her ears and her other hand was wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel her knuckles were white. Her mind was spinning furiously. Why was he calling? What did he want?

She gave commonplace responses to his questions and waited. He took a breath. "I actually have some news. I wanted you to hear this from me." Elizabeth closed her eyes, giving silent thanks to Daniel as Simon informed her of his engagement.

"Ah, yes, I had heard about it already. Congratulations." Her lips felt numb.

"Oh. Well, yes, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that. Anyway, I wanted to be sure you didn't, you know, hear from someone else." Of course, a couple of her old friends in D.C. aside from Daniel had e-mailed her since Thanksgiving to tell her the news, so Simon was several days late and falling short. Not that that was anything new.

Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to even feign enthusiasm. Simon wasn't quite so stupid that he didn't catch on to that, and he ended the call fairly quickly. "I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, Elizabeth." There was the slightest catch in his voice, and her heart ached a little. It was strange that his voice was so unexpected now, when it had been so familiar for so long.

"Yes, you too." She hung up. Several long minutes went by as she sat there, staring blankly at the phone, before a horn out on the street reminded her Cameron was expecting her.

Well, she thought to herself as she got back on the road. That was awkward and uncomfortable.

Cameron looked slightly frightened by the armload of bags she brought into his apartment. "Elizabeth, you said 'some' decorations. _Some_. This looks like you're putting up the display windows at Macy's."

She shrugged off her coat. "You've seen my apartment. I don't do Christmas decorations half-assed." All right, truthfully she'd gone a little overboard buying stuff for Cameron's place. But Simon had always resisted putting up lots of decorations-

She cut that thought off.

She'd gotten him a little table top tree that bore a slight resemblance to the one from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. They hung the simple green wreath over his door and Cameron strung up the Christmas lights around the living room. He balked at the inflatable snowman. Elizabeth shrugged. It would look nice out on her deck.

He gave in on the Santa Claus potholders, though.

It was almost 6 when Cameron fished one last thing out of the shopping bag. "What is this?"

She grinned. "You don't recognize mistletoe?"

"Elizabeth," he whined. "You want me to hang this up in here? So, what, it can mock me about being alone through the whole holiday?"

"Hey, you never know." She elbowed him gently, mindful that his ribs were still sore. "You might need an opening to kiss someone and here it'll be."

He rolled his eyes and they debated about the best place to hang it before deciding on the doorway to the kitchen. Cameron was tall enough that he could reach the doorframe without a chair, but he managed to drop the roll of tape. Elizabeth ducked down and grabbed it, handing him another piece to fix the mistletoe in place. He let go and it hung nicely down into the doorway.

Elizabeth nodded appreciatively and then realized abruptly that Cameron was very close and looking at her intently. Looking at her lips, specifically, and her mouth went dry.

She didn't have the excuse of him nearly dying mere hours ago this time, and while talking to Simon had unsettled her, she knew it wasn't enough to justify what she was thinking of in that moment. But Cameron's face was full of both a strange sadness and so much longing, it pained her to see it. She took a half-step forward, bringing them face to face. She rested her hands on his shoulders, stretched up and kissed him.

If she expected flirtation and gentility, two things she associated with Cameron, she didn't get them. This wasn't like John's hesitant, nervous touch. There was one split-second of a pause, and then Cameron's arms wrapped around her and tugged her right up against him. One hand slid up her back to her neck while the other trailed down just shy of groping her ass. He kissed her hard, Elizabeth's arms sliding around his shoulders as her body tingled from head to toe.

Cameron turned her, pressing her back against the doorframe with his body. God, that perfect, toned body of his felt like heaven and when she gasped slightly he seized the advantage and deepened the kiss. Elizabeth fell into the heat and the hunger of his mouth, kissing him back with equal fervor.

When they broke apart, panting, she stared up at him for a long minute. Cameron slowly pulled back, and as soon as his arms were gone she missed the warmth. Absurdly in that moment she remembered how warm John had felt in her arms, and the way he had still tasted of the fire when he kissed her.

There was a sound outside the door and Elizabeth and Cameron barely had time to separate and compose themselves when John's key turned in the lock and he opened the door. Cameron went to help him carry the food in and Elizabeth pressed her fingers against her mouth briefly.

She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't lie anymore, couldn't pretend. She was tired of ignoring the reality they were in and now, watching the two of them moving easily around each other but John shooting a confused look in her direction while Cameron avoided meeting her eyes, Elizabeth felt something in her resolve itself, like a knot finally coming loose.

They couldn't go on like this.

*~*~*~*

As the others started spreading out the food, Cameron made an excuse to leave and grabbed the empty boxes and litter left over from the Christmas decorations. He shrugged on a jacket, careful to avoid meeting Elizabeth's eyes as he quickly hauled the trash over one shoulder.

"You don't have to do that right now," Elizabeth protested.

Cameron shrugged. "Might as well."

He ignored the quizzical look John tossed him, and when he opened the door, a gust of cold air flooded in. He left quickly, slamming the door shut behind him, and all things considered the low temperature should have had the same effect as a cold shower. And to a certain extent, it did. But the rush of kissing Elizabeth was like an adrenaline kick, and Cameron felt the aftershock of it linger in his body.

When the moment had presented itself, Cameron had known it was a now-or-never deal. There was a likelihood he'd only get the one chance to kiss Elizabeth, and Cameron hadn't wanted to waste the opportunity to make his own case. And Christ, if she hadn't responded to his advances. Whatever else lay on the horizon, whatever rejection was looming, at least Cameron knew he affected her on some level. It was a small consolation to what he really wanted, but Cameron had known – even during the kiss – that whatever lay beyond it was up in the air. He didn't know what Elizabeth wanted – who she really wanted.

As he threw the trash into the dumpster outside his apartment, Cameron consoled himself that at least his interest was out in the open now. He'd always hated pussy-footing around, and he was too thickheaded for his own good to just let this one go without taking some kind of action.

If she picked John now, then he'd be happy for them.

Even if it killed him.

When he returned, the food was already set out and there was a small, goofy snowman candle set kindling in the center of Cameron's dinner table. Elizabeth's touch, he knew, just like everything else here that spoke of her presence. He walked across the foyer and into the living room, and spotted John lounging on the couch, watching TV. He could hear Elizabeth rummaging for something in the kitchen. For a moment, Cameron stared at the back of his partner's head, at a loss for words.

John turned, and noticed Cameron staring. "Something wrong?"

Act normal, Cameron told himself. "No. What're you watching?"

John paused, the expression on his face suspicious. After a moment, he answered, "There's nothing good on."

"It's the Christmas season," Cameron argued, "There's never anything goo-"

But Elizabeth walked back into the living room, and Cameron abruptly broke off, flashing her a sideways glance that he knew was just way too damn obvious. Elizabeth seemed to be handling herself better than him, because she clasped her hands together and nodded her head towards the food. "Let's eat?"

Sitting at the table, they managed small talk about some new developments at Elizabeth's job, but it was painfully obvious that there was something off. John picked up on it immediately, and by the time they were halfway through the meal, silence had fallen and Cameron was tapping his foot against the table in a persistent and unconscious rhythm until John just snapped.

"All right," John said, releasing a forceful breath, "What the hell is going on?" Cameron opened his mouth to respond, but Elizabeth looked at him almost frantically, eyes suddenly widening, and Cameron's throat closed off. John swiveled his head between the two, and his annoyance turned a little more cautious. "Guys?"

Elizabeth sighed, closing her eyes, and then shocked them both by spitting out, "Simon's getting married."

For a moment, there was utter silence and Cameron scrambled to remember who Simon even _was_, and then it came back to him: Elizabeth's ex, the one she'd left behind in D.C. She never talked about the guy. In fact, it was almost weird how little Cameron knew about this past relationship now that he thought about it, given that it had propelled Elizabeth to move several thousand miles to get away from it. As both Cameron and John struggled to find an appropriate response to Elizabeth's declaration, she quietly sat at the end of the table, embarrassment flooding her cheeks red.

John was the first to recover, finally breaking the silence with an eloquent, "Well…" He tilted his head a little as his face scrunched up uncomfortably. He looked to Cameron for help, except Cameron was at a loss for words.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Then abruptly she stood up and marched into the kitchen. In her wake, Cameron and John stared at each other in bewilderment for a moment, until she came back with a bottle of vodka in her hands. It was from Cameron's stash in his corner cabinet.

She settled the bottle on the table, and said, "Okay, I'll show you mine, if you show me yours."

*~*~*~*

In theory, all three of them were decorating Cameron's tiny tree, but in reality, Elizabeth was the one who wandered back and forth, hanging little ornaments, sipping at vodka and eating sugar cookies from the box John had brought while he and Cameron basically watched from the couch and listened and drank along with her. John still didn't know precisely what was going on, and alcohol seemed like a really good idea for whatever was coming.

It seemed to help Elizabeth to have something to do with her hands as she told them about her relationship with Simon. And the lower the level of vodka in the bottle, the more expansive she became.

From what Elizabeth said – and what she pointedly didn't say – it sounded to John like the perfect relationship. A lawyer and a doctor, the ideal yuppie power couple, with the right friends, the right apartment, just the right furniture, etc. This Simon sounded like the kind of guy who took women to fancy restaurants and knew what wine to order with what food and sent expensive flowers on special occasions.

Except the woman in the picture didn't match up with Elizabeth. The woman he'd gotten to know in the last six months didn't fit the "straight out of the J. Crew catalogue" image in his mind. She was tough and independent and occasionally swore like a sailor. She was funny and smart and could flirt like hell when she wanted to. And every once in a while she became uncertain and almost vulnerable and he hated to see her like that. Which didn't sound like a woman who would be happy with the World's Most Perfect Boyfriend.

"There." Elizabeth snapped off the living room light and the tree glowed in the darkness. She meandered her way around the apartment, turning off all the other lights so the room was dark except for the tree and the Christmas lights around the window. She came back, climbing over his legs to get in between him and Cameron, but she stumbled. John grabbed her arm to balance her and help her sit down on the couch with them, but she slipped and fell onto the floor with a little bounce.

She shrugged and reached for the box of cookies on the coffee table.

John exchanged a look with Cameron and they both joined her on the floor, one on either side.

Elizabeth bit into a cookie, continuing her narrative with her mouth full. "And then, he met Lynnette."

Cameron's voice was a little higher than normal. "I take it that's the woman he's marrying?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I only saw her once, when I stopped by his office to drop off his dry cleaning. That was what we had devolved into by then. I brought him his dry cleaning. It's no wonder..." She trailed off. "She was a transcriptionist, working out of his office. They started seeing each other last winter."

John's blood began to boil. "You were still together then?"

She nodded and as his eyes adjusted to the low light, he could see her jaw tighten. Cameron shifted restlessly, reaching for the vodka. John suspected his partner was also imagining finding Simon and beating the living shit out of him, and then Cameron muttered under his breath, "Asshole."

Elizabeth giggled a little, and John realized she was a bit tipsy. She nudged Cameron, "I beg your pardon!"

"Oh, no, I didn't..." Cameron started to apologize and then his brain caught up with Elizabeth. He rolled his eyes.

"We could beat him up," John offered chivalrously.

Cameron nodded vigorously, a sure sign he was getting a little drunk himself. "Yeah. We know people. Large people."

"Lots of muscles."

"Ronon'll smack a guy just for fun," Cameron agreed.

John smirked. "Simon the Doctor won't know what hit him."

Elizabeth was laughing by this time, her cheeks almost glowing in the dark. She placed a hand over her heart dramatically. "My heroes."

John felt warmth flush through him, even if his brain tried to point out that she was joking. He saw Cameron swallow and wondered if he was reacting the same way.

She shook her head. "Daniel warned me about the engagement over Thanksgiving. He wanted me to hear before anyone else could rush to tell me the gossip, so it wasn't that big a shock when Simon called today. Well," she amended. "Hearing his voice was a shock, but the news wasn't."

Elizabeth seemed to get lost in thought for a minute, staring at the Christmas tree. John felt the pieces sliding into place in his mind. Having her ex call her to talk about his upcoming wedding to the woman he'd cheated on Elizabeth with... and how utterly classless could one guy be? Not to mention how stupid would anyone have to be to dump Elizabeth? Anyway, having Simon call her had probably rattled her. Even John knew that Elizabeth put up a good front of being unflappable but certain things got through her armor.

Talking to Simon had clearly upset her, and then something happened with her and Cameron when she got here.

John took another swallow of vodka. He could happily have tossed himself off a building. He'd had a chance, damn it, and he blew it. He'd kissed her first, but he was afraid of pushing her or upsetting things, so he hadn't said anything since that night in the hospital. Even though that kiss and the feeling of Elizabeth's mouth against his had been haunting him every waking moment since then, not to mention following him into his dreams.

And she'd kissed him back. He still had trouble believing that.

But he'd hesitated, and Cameron hadn't.

Something had passed between her and Cameron before he got here tonight, and knowing them both, John was pretty sure Cameron had made some sort of move on her. One Elizabeth wasn't unhappy with. Not all that surprising, as Cameron could turn on the charm when he wanted something. And now... now they were probably both waiting until John took the hint and made himself scarce so they could be alone and finish whatever it was they had started. Which he so wasn't going to think about.

God, it hurt. But he'd go to hell before he let that show. Cameron was his best friend, and he had a serious thing for Elizabeth, and he deserved to be happy about that without John making him miserable for it.

He glanced over at Cameron, who was staring at Elizabeth, looking a bit glassy-eyed from the alcohol. John started formulating excuses in his head, reasons he'd have to take off. Except he was a little too drunk to drive himself anywhere right now. But then Cameron raised his eyes and John blinked. Cameron looked confused and worried, which was not an expression he would expect on his partner if he was anticipating some quality time alone with Elizabeth.

She startled them by snorting with what sounded like disgust. She stretched out, leaning her head back against the couch. Cameron's arm was lying there and John saw Cameron tense at the contact. Elizabeth ignored them both, raised the bottle of vodka and said "Good riddance."

She took a big drink and seemed to remember them suddenly. "I'm not sorry about this, you know," she told them, glancing from one to the other. "We were never really right for each other, but it was just easier to go along for a long time and not have to think too hard. And then, when it all ended, and I started to really evaluate the whole thing, the more I've thought about it the more I realize just how bad it all was."

She plunked the vodka down and pulled her knees up, her arms crossed over her chest. "He was such a neat freak. I mean, I'm neat but not _that_ neat. He didn't like lots of holiday decorations. He thought you really did need to eat fruits and vegetables with every meal. He had awful taste in music." She shook her head. John had no idea how long she'd been holding all this in but either the vodka or something else had loosened her tongue and it was like a dam bursting. She clearly wasn't going to stop until she had gotten everything out. Her next words only proved it. "And the sex was boring as hell. Even at the beginning, really. Never any real excitement at all."

John's whole body stiffened in surprise. He saw Cameron's fingers splay out in shock. Then he picked up the bottle of vodka and put it out of everyone's reach.

Elizabeth stared up at the ceiling, unruffled. "I think we only ever had anal sex twice. Twice in almost four years!"

John came dangerously close to spitting the cookie he was chewing all over the floor. Cameron's eyes almost bulged out of his head. She was drunk. She _had_ to be drunk to be talking about this so freely.

"Elizabeth!" Cameron practically squeaked out.

"Oh, what?" she demanded, rolling her head lazily to look at him. "Come on. Doesn't every guy get curious about that?"

Cameron opened and closed his mouth a couple times, looking pleadingly at John for help.

Elizabeth turned and fixed him with a slightly cockeyed look, eyebrow raised in challenge, and something in him, possibly the devil on his shoulder that was well aware of how the rest of his body was reacting to this line of conversation, answered her, "Pretty much." He shouldn't be saying that, shouldn't be encouraging this, but he was just drunk enough to pretend he didn't care.

She shot Cameron a "told you so" look and settled back down, sighing and continuing her vodka-enhanced tirade. "He had no imagination. Simon figured out what worked and then just did the same thing, over and over. No creativity. No experimenting. Nothing even approaching kinky, and he didn't want to hear about things that didn't fit his pattern of how it should all work."

Her voice dropped down to a husky whisper that would've been his death sentence if she hadn't sounded so damned _sad_. "I stopped asking for things after a while. I'd make suggestions and he'd get all flustered and uncomfortable. So I stopped asking and he stopped trying. And I felt like a complete freak because of that."

Cameron shifted uncomfortably and John recognized the signs well enough to know his partner was getting as turned on by this as he was. God, did Elizabeth have any idea what she was doing right now? How drunk was she, really? Because his brain was flipping through multiple scenarios of what kinds of kinky things Elizabeth was interested in trying in bed, and if he wasn't mistaken, Cameron was probably thinking the exact same thing.

What if this didn't have to be one or the other? What if they told her she didn't have to choose between them? What if he turned to her and told her she could have anything she wanted from him right now as long as he got to stay?

He was almost drunk enough to do it. Elizabeth seemed just drunk enough to be willing to consider it. Cameron... that John couldn't be sure of.

Elizabeth leaned forward, her head on her folded arms, and John wasn't entirely sure she intended them to hear her next words. "I'm so tired of being sorry for who I am. For things I want."

John licked his lips, resolve crystallizing inside of him. He looked at Cameron and waited until his partner looked up and met his eyes. Cameron's mouth was open, and he was breathing harder than he should be for sitting on the floor, and John knew they were both thinking the same thing.

Neither of them could just sit still and let Elizabeth be alone anymore.

*~*~*~*

Damn it, she should know better than to drink that much vodka. Elizabeth knew she tended to get maudlin when she started to get really drunk. Slightly drunk she was just giddier than usual, but clearly she was edging into actual drunkenness.

No more vodka for you, she thought wryly.

She pillowed her head on her arms so the guys wouldn't see her flushed cheeks. They were sitting stiffly on either side of her, and the warmth of having them so close was doing things to her, making her veer back and forth between what she wanted and what she was brave enough to risk.

It was that sense of being surrounded and safe that made her blurt out the bit about anal sex. Yes, it was true, but it wasn't something she'd discuss with anyone. Except maybe Vala. Well, she'd gone ahead and discussed it with John and Cameron. She'd been hoping deep down that the old rule still applied: if you talked about sex with a guy, he started thinking you might want to have some.

Instead they both just froze and looked panicked. Her brilliant plan of getting them all drunk and seeing what happened, if the pull between them would be able to overwhelm them all if they were inebriated, didn't seem to be working.

And she was just too chicken to come right out and say it. If it had only been one of them, she probably could've managed to dredge up her rusty skills at flirting and innuendo. And if she remembered correctly, it usually wasn't hard to get a guy to think you wanted to have sex, because it was usually what he was hoping to hear.

But whatever she decided about what she wanted at any given point in time, the complications never went away. They were friends and they had to work together. Whatever her baser needs might be craving, there were ramifications for them that she wouldn't have to deal with.

Elizabeth sighed. Those were nice, rational reasons for being too scared to be direct with Cameron and John.

God, when was she going to grow up? She spent all those years not being blunt with Simon, not being honest with herself, and years before that working to put together a life that had never been a comfortable fit for her. Now she was finally starting to take control and carve out the life she actually wanted, but she still couldn't bring herself to cross this one line.

Her eyes watered and she put it down to the alcohol.

Then she felt Cameron's hand on her neck. His palm slid up from her nape and his fingers tangled in her hair. She arched into it and then felt a warm hand cover hers. She raised her head and saw John shifting closer, looking at her with undeniable heat in his eyes. "Elizabeth," he said quietly, licking his lips.

Behind her, Cameron leaned in close to her ear. "Tell us."

"What?" she stammered, confused by the sudden shift in the atmosphere.

John's fingers closed around her wrist, stroking absently. "You don't have to be sorry anymore. Tell us what you want."

Cameron's breath was warm on her neck, his fingers massaging just behind her ears. Her spine went liquid from the touch and the solid heat against her sides and what she began to realize they were saying. But she was still in shock, unable to move, to believe.

John must have sensed her confusion, because he reached up and cupped her face in his hands and leaned towards her. His intent was plain as day and her heart was thudding against her chest almost painfully as his lips closed the distance and met hers.

_This_ was the kiss she'd fantasized about: slow and heated and full of such intense wanting that she whimpered as John's lips moved against hers. But there was the slightest hesitancy still and the mere idea that he might think she'd reject him made her reach out, wrapping a hand around his neck and keeping him close when he would've pulled back.

When they had to break apart to breathe, Cameron grunted and Elizabeth couldn't stop the gut-check of guilt that welled up. She turned to look at him and paused. His eyes were dark and hot and he glanced from her to John and back again. He whispered "damn" like he had been caught off-guard, then he leaned in and kissed her himself, sweet and slow.

John's hand slid down her arm and their fingers intertwined. Cameron still had his hand in her hair and they were so warm, surrounding her. She felt safe with them in a way she'd never felt with anyone else in her life. It wasn't an emotion people ordinarily considered a turn-on, but it heightened the feelings she'd been nursing for them both for months. She drew in a deep breath when Cameron released her lips. "Tell us," he repeated.

"Anything you want," John put in. "You got it."

Cameron smirked a little. "Unless it involves Lorne."

She laughed with them for a moment, trying to steady herself. Every fantasy she'd had involving them coursed through her mind at a dizzying speed. She felt like she was standing right on the edge of an enormous cliff, and part of her wanted to turn back because it was strange and new and she could hardly sit still from the possibilities in front of her. She didn't know how to maneuver through them and that frightened her.

But she never wanted them to stop touching her and the touching was incredibly chaste still. What about when it wasn't so innocent? The thought made her gasp.

John's lips brushed the back of her fingers, making goose bumps break out all over her. But the mention of Lorne reminded her of something and Elizabeth struggled to control herself again. She reached out and covered Cameron's free hand with her own.

"Wait," she managed to say.

They didn't let go. In fact, they both held on tighter and she saw John's eyes flash with determination and Cameron set his jaw, like they were preparing for a fight. They were preparing to fight to convince her, she realized, and had to lick suddenly dry lips to go on.

"This can't hurt you," she blurted out, glancing from one to the other. "I mean, your friendship. Your partnership. I can't live with that. If I was responsible for screwing that up..." She shook her head. "I won't do it. And as much..." She drew in a deep breath and braced herself. "As much as I want this, if it's going to make things too weird between you, I'll leave. Right now."

She waited, looking between them as they shared one of their usual long glances that she couldn't read the half of. John shook his head. "It won't be a problem. For me," he added, raising his eyebrows at Cameron.

"Me either," Cameron added. "I mean... you know."

John nodded. "Yeah."

Elizabeth frowned. "What?"

"Hmm?" John went back to playing with her fingers but her curiosity was roused and it was calming to focus on this little mystery for a minute and get her heartbeat under control.

"What was that about? The 'you know, yeah' bit?"

Cameron stared at John expectantly. John tried to pull away but Elizabeth grasped his fingers tightly. "I passed," John blurted out.

It took her a second to realize what he meant. "Oh my God. You passed the test?"

"Yeah." John looked almost embarrassed about this. Elizabeth surged up onto her knees and threw her arms around his neck.

"Congratulations," she said, leaving a resounding kiss on his cheek. "When did you find out?"

"Just today," John glanced over at Cameron and Elizabeth frowned at the grim look on Cameron's face.

"What?"

Cameron suddenly looked down at the floor while John told her slowly, "I've been reassigned. I'm going to take over House 9 starting next month."

Elizabeth went still for a moment. Cameron's sad expression suddenly made more sense. "You two won't be partners anymore," she filled in.

John nodded, his face betraying his own conflicting emotions. She could understand that. This was something he wanted badly, but it was coming with a price. He was leaving Cameron behind.

Cameron finally looked up. He shook himself and made an attempt at humor that didn't quite succeed. "It's about time, though, really. Only so many years you can put up with the same person day in, day out."

Elizabeth leaned in and hugged him too. She couldn't not. Both of them looked kind of like wounded puppies right now.

Of course, as she had her arms around Cameron, his hand slipped down and pinched her ass. She squeaked and jerked away. There was a momentary silence in the room, as she looked at them and they looked at her, the energy between them all shifting once again. Then, as one, John and Cameron began to move towards her.

"So now that we're all on the same page," Cameron began, shifting onto his knees and leaning over her. His lips grazed her jaw and moved to her neck and Elizabeth let him press her back onto the floor, as John pushed the coffee table out of their way. "You were about to tell us all your kinkiest fantasies."

John moved along her other side, his hand pressing against her belly, slipping under her shirt to tease her skin. "In excruciating detail, so we can make them happen." He kissed her bare stomach lightly and Cameron found the sensitive spot on her neck and Elizabeth shuddered.

"Possibly more than once," Cameron added, looking down at her.

They were past the point of no return now, Elizabeth told herself, although she knew if she made any sort of real protest, they would stop. They were good men, and they would stop if she wanted to stop.

She didn't want to stop. She wanted to jump.

She drew in a deep breath, wrapping an arm around Cameron's neck and cupping John's cheek with the other. And told them.


	4. Chapter 4

It took the last gasp of rational thought in his head for Cameron to disentangle himself enough from Elizabeth and John to point out that things would be easier if they got off the living room floor and went into the bedroom. He didn't think any of the three of them would be very comfortable kneeling on the carpet and hard flooring for any length of time.

He and John got to their feet and helped Elizabeth up. All three of them were a little wobbly – Elizabeth more than them – but he knew the difference between lowered inhibitions and too drunk to think straight.

That wasn't much of a comfort, really. If they were all plastered then tomorrow, when reality came back...

He pushed the thought away. He wasn't sure what was happening tonight, if it was just a one-time thing or something else. He hadn't been thinking anything remotely in the same galaxy as this until he noticed that John was getting more and more worked up, and that Elizabeth was cuddling against the both of them eagerly. And now, he was going to get to have her, share her with John, and tomorrow wasn't nearly as important as finally getting to act on the fantasies he'd been having about Elizabeth for nearly six months.

They reached the bedroom slightly ahead of him and John grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her into his arms, kissing her thoroughly. Elizabeth let him strip her out of the sweater she was wearing. Cameron paused in the doorway, watching them.

It was strange that thinking about John kissing her before had made him jealous, but watching it actually happen was just making him even more aroused. He hadn't expected that. It had never entered his head that this situation could end in any way but Elizabeth either with him or with John, or with neither of them.

He preferred this to the neither option, he thought, as John began to nuzzle Elizabeth's neck and she twisted, looking for Cameron. She reached for him immediately and he stepped forward, letting her draw him in. She kissed him hungrily, pressing her front against his, grinning against his mouth when his erection brushed against her stomach.

John was behind her, and he opened the clasp of her bra and pulled the material free. She was naked from the waist up now, and even in the dim glow from the lights in the living room, she was breathtaking. Elizabeth wasn't the type to show off her body much. She was usually either in suits or jeans and sweaters around them. Not that he hadn't pictured her naked plenty of times, but the reality was a million times better than his fantasies. Cameron's eyes roved over her even as his mouth watered. His hands moved of their own accord, cupping her breasts in his palms, thumbs teasing her hard nipples lightly.

She groaned, her head falling back onto John's shoulder. Cameron saw his partner smirking. John's hands slid down Elizabeth's sides and then slipped in between her and Cameron. The backs of his fingers brushed against Cameron's erection and his hips twitched as John focused on getting Elizabeth's jeans open.

John undid the fly of her jeans and worked them and her panties off. Cameron was still playing with her, and Elizabeth's breaths were coming heavily now just from this. He could understand how she felt. He was rigid inside his jeans. He had been since they'd still been in the living room.

She wanted them both. When she had finally whispered to them, "I want you both inside me" Cameron had just groaned, pushing his erection against her hip helplessly. It had been John, the eternal smartass, who'd pinched Elizabeth's side and asked, "At the same time or one after the other?"

It had probably been a fair logistical question, really, but just discussing it had driven Cameron past the point of being able to think much. And now, now she was naked before him, panting and staring at him. At least, she was until John's fingers glided between her legs and began to tease her. Then her pretty green eyes closed and she grabbed onto Cameron's forearms for balance.

This wasn't the time for subtle. He bent down and wrapped his mouth around her breast. He suckled, and Elizabeth writhed between them. Cameron left John to steady her and switched to her other breast, licking and then biting gently. She let out this noise, so high-pitched only dogs could probably hear it, and her hips jerked, colliding with his groin for a moment as she moved.

Over the sounds of mouths and hands and flesh, he heard John murmuring to her, "Fuck, you're so wet already, Elizabeth..."

Cameron moaned a little, but it was drowned out by Elizabeth keening again, and her body shuddered between them.

Cameron pulled back, watching as Elizabeth slumped into John's arms, her chest heaving as she tried to get her breath back. He brushed her hair back from her face, and Elizabeth's eyes opened slightly.

She looked disheveled, gorgeous, sexy as all hell. He wanted her so much, wanted to lay her down on the bed and just _touch her_ until none of them could take any more. He couldn't remember being this hot for anyone before.

But he looked at John, even as his fingers slid lightly down her neck. "I bet we can get her to scream before we're through here," he said.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed slightly.

John turned his head and kissed her cheek with an odd gentleness considering the situation. "I'm counting on it," he told Cameron with a grin.

*~*~*~*

Not that she didn't appreciate either the orgasm or their intentions, but Cameron's little goading remark about making her scream managed to penetrate the afterglow in Elizabeth's mind. She slipped free from John's arms and walked towards the bed. She pulled the blankets down and out of the way, giving the two men a good show of her body as she moved. She ignored the tiny spike of nervousness at being utterly naked before them.

Then she crawled onto the bed with as much grace as she could manage after all that vodka, turning onto her back and stretching her body out, arms curled over her head and holding the pillows.

That, it seemed, was enough to shut them up. Both of them were staring at her avidly. She cleared her throat and they both jumped. This whole thing was too strange and new for them not to react automatically to being caught ogling, even when she was laying herself out before them like this.

What she was doing and how they were reacting made her head spin. She hadn't felt this way in forever. Not just horny or aroused but almost high on the feeling of wanting and being wanted in return. Though she knew the alcohol was possibly helping.

And she was probably getting twice the charge this time, too, she thought wickedly.

She glanced at their clothes pointedly. "You two seem enormously overdressed still."

The two men began stripping with a speed that bordered on comical. Elizabeth watched as more and more skin was bared and tried to keep her breathing steady. During the summer she'd seen them both shirtless more than once (and those images had haunted her for weeks), but the intention here was so different, it was difficult to even pretend to be calm.

Cameron was naked first, and he crawled onto the bed and kissed her lightly. She could feel the tension in his shoulders as he glanced over towards John and then back to her, and see it in the way he hovered, as if he wasn't sure what to do.

It wasn't really until that moment that she understood what should have been obvious. They hadn't done this before either. As terrifying as it was for her, she needed to remember this was new for all of them.

John plucked his socks off and stretched out alongside her on the bed. He raised his eyebrows at Cameron, who was half on top of her but still holding himself away. "You look comfortable," he quipped.

In truth he didn't, but she could fix that. She reached out and wrapped her arms and legs around Cam and tugged him down. He groaned as their bodies collided fully, his erection pressing into her belly and her breasts flattened against the hard muscle of his chest. Cameron's head fell into her shoulder, like the contact with all that bare skin had stolen the strength from his limbs. His breath was hot against her collarbone and his skin was even hotter, making sweat break out all over her body.

Elizabeth shot John a look. "Better?"

He chuckled. "Seems so."

She ran her nails down Cameron's back and he arched. They were her heroes, Elizabeth knew. They wouldn't push her, not like this. If any progress was going to be made here, she was going to have to try and tell them what to do.

It scared the hell out of her, because what she'd told them about Simon had been true. She'd stopped articulating things in bed a long time ago, and she wasn't completely sure how to start.

Cameron began kissing her neck. John trailed two fingers down her arm, up along her shoulder and the other side of her throat. Elizabeth looked from him down to Cameron and back, a question in her eyes. That weird ability to communicate through a single look she and John shared didn't fail her. He understood her meaning and he nodded to let her know it was fine with him.

She drew Cameron up into a kiss after that, and rolled her hips up against his, making him groan again, this time against her mouth. Then another thought struck her and stopped her cold.

"Elizabeth?" Cameron asked, obviously aware of her sudden paralysis.

"Please tell me you have protection," she gritted out. She was still taking birth control pills, mostly for the sake of regularity, but however much she might trust these two, she wasn't insane. They were not having unsafe sex.

"Oh, yeah," Cameron said, looking slightly sheepish. He nodded to John, who twisted around and fumbled in the drawer of the nightstand for a minute. He turned back and handed Cameron one of the condoms, then proceeded to drop several more onto the bed near the pillow. Cam chuckled and tore open the packet he held, but Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at John. "Ambitious much?"

He gave her a _look_ and then leaned down and kissed her. It was more than a kiss, it was a conquest. Warm lips and a strong, hot tongue plundering her mouth hungrily and urgently, and Elizabeth cried out against John's kiss when Cameron's fingers slipped between her legs and started circling her clit. John didn't release her mouth and Cameron's tongue licked one of her nipples, his fingers settling into a rhythm easily. John had figured out how she liked to be touched very fast as well. Cam's fingers felt different, but the effect was just as intense. Possibly more so now that everybody was naked and she could feel John's erection against her side, and Cameron's brushing against her thigh.

Elizabeth was approaching stimulation overload. Her body trembled as one of them palmed her other breast. Hands were touching her everywhere, and even when John pulled his lips away from hers and started nuzzling her jaw she couldn't open her eyes. Cameron's hand moved down and with frustrating slowness, he penetrated her with a single finger while his thumb slid along her clit. He added another and then both of them were licking and sucking at her breasts while Cameron fucked her slowly with his fingers.

She grabbed both of them by the hair; it was the easiest thing to reach at the moment. She managed to gasp out their names, "Cam, John, oh God…"

"Going to scream for us already, Elizabeth?" Cameron teased in a voice so low and wicked it made her knees weak. He curled his fingers up where they were gliding in and out of her and she whimpered as he unerringly hit her g-spot.

John's body nestled closer against her side and his breath tickled her ear. "Tell him what to do, Elizabeth, or he'll never shut up." John's hand was resting over her breast, just holding her.

She managed to crack her eyes open and saw John grinning and Cameron rolling his eyes. She smiled a little herself, but her body was aching for more than just fingers. She slid her thighs up along Cameron's and wrapped her legs around his waist, very effectively wiping the smirk from his face.

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath and concentrated on speaking clearly, determinedly not thinking about anything but making her voice work. "Cameron, inside me. Now."

She bit her lip as his fingers withdrew, but he grasped his erection and a moment later he was pushing his cock into her obediently.

Elizabeth moaned. It burned a little. She hadn't been with anyone in a long time and Cameron was clearly larger than Simon. She pushed that memory away and concentrated on the stretch and ache of her muscles as Cameron penetrated her inch by inch.

She'd missed this so damned much.

When his hips pressed against hers they both held still for a moment. Elizabeth felt full, almost too full, but she wanted that fiercely. She wanted "too much." She wanted to be fucked within an inch of her life tonight. She wanted to feel more than she'd ever felt in bed with anybody else, and if anyone could get her there, it was these two.

She reached out and brushed John's cheek with her palm. He turned, capturing her fingertips with his lips. He smiled, but his eyes were hot and dark as he looked at her. He drew her fingers deeper, suckling and then biting gently.

The pressure of his teeth made her arch, the movement jolting Cameron into pulling back and then she urged him to slide into her again, and once Cam started rocking into her, she never wanted him to stop. He moved slowly, but she could feel the shaking tension in his arms. He was holding himself back and she didn't want that. She'd been fantasizing about Cam fucking her for far too long to settle for polite, careful lovemaking right now. Kissing him and digging her heel into his ass, she goaded him to take her faster and harder.

"God, 'Lizabeth," he muttered, bracing himself with one arm while his hips thrust into hers. Elizabeth matched every move, holding onto Cam with one hand. She already could feel the edge of another orgasm tightening inside of her. She drew her fingers free from John's mouth and grabbed the hand that was still fondling her breast. She moved her legs and guided John's hand down her stomach. Cameron's movements stuttered slightly as John's fingers insinuated themselves just above where Cameron was moving in and out of her and all three of them moaned when John started touching her clit.

She clung to them both as her body started to twitch uncontrollably. So close to the peak now, and she felt like every molecule in her body was humming with anticipation. She opened her eyes when one of them – she wasn't sure who – said her name.

They were both watching her. It hit her full force that she was actually doing this. Having sex with Cameron and John, both of them touching her, both of them _seeing_ her like this. It was too much and she threw her head back, her body surging up against Cameron as she came hard. The cry she let out was part pleasure, part triumph.

She heard Cameron's muttered curse and felt him coming inside of her, but she had trouble moving or doing much of anything for a few minutes, lost in a euphoric haze. Cam pulled out and shifted to lie against her other side, running a hand over her stomach and nuzzling her affectionately as he did so. Then John bit her ear and she gasped and opened her eyes.

He was grinning at her, but there was a frantic edge not very well hidden underneath it. "You'd better not be thinking about taking a nap or something," he warned.

She gave him a sultry look and rolled onto her side. She threw a knee over his hips and straddled him, her hands sliding up his chest. John let out a noise as she shifted above him, letting her body just graze his erection. "Not tired," she told him with a smirk. She wasn't, just loose limbed and still buzzing from the last orgasm.

"Hey," Cameron said lazily, his lips twitching. "I'm lying right here."

"Sorry," Elizabeth said, ducking down to peck at his lips. "Not _too_ tired?"

"Better," Cam told her, mollified.

Elizabeth drew back but didn't raise herself up, so her breasts dragged against John's chest as she placed a hand on either side of his head and stared down at him. John's hands were fondling her hips and her ass, and when their eyes met, she saw him swallow hard. The hungry expression on his face went straight through her, and she couldn't bear that he thought even for a moment that this was some sort of pity fuck or that he was somehow second-best. She kissed him deeply, swaying her hips against his slowly, just enough to tantalize him. He kissed her back, eager to the point of desperation, like all that tension he usually tried to conceal from the world was escaping now.

It only took a couple of minutes before her body was thoroughly aroused again. Elizabeth tore herself away from John's lips long enough to grab one of the condoms and open it. She unrolled it over John's cock herself, teasing him a little with her fingers as she did. She was pretty sure that both men groaned at that, but she ignored it, steadying John and herself so she could slide down and take him in.

He wasn't as thick as Cameron, or maybe she was just already stretched, but he felt just as incredible. John fit inside her and between her thighs like he'd been made to match her body perfectly. When her hips pressed all the way down against his, Elizabeth skimmed her fingers up the sides of his abdomen, making his muscles twitch under her touch as she soaked up the feeling of him inside her.

John's hand lifted hers and he laced their fingers together. Elizabeth rocked her body, just a little, and he moaned. Elizabeth reached out and brushed her fingers over his lips. "God, John," she murmured, closing her eyes and moving again, more firmly. "Want you so much."

John pushed his hips up, saying her name. She moved with him, setting a pace that was slow without being too drawn out. She glanced over at Cameron, slightly surprised to see him watching John for a moment before he looked up at her. She wanted him touching her too, as John had done earlier. Cameron, however, had a better idea.

Cam sat up and then knelt close behind her, straddling John's legs. His hands groped her ass for a minute before sliding up her hips, along her sides and then he cupped her breasts. Elizabeth arched, her body falling back against Cameron's strength behind her while never losing the rhythm of riding John steadily. For his part, John was staring up at them avidly, holding her hips as she rocked down onto him.

Cam nuzzled her neck, fingers teasing her nipples, making shocks of pleasure go through her. But when he spoke, it wasn't to her.

"Do it, John," he said, in that low, sexy voice that made her want to melt. "Make her scream for us."

The two men looked at each other for a moment longer, then John licked his fingers. Elizabeth whimpered, clinging to Cameron's arms for support as John wiggled his finger between her folds, right where she was sliding up and down on top of him. By now he knew precisely how to touch her to make her crazy, and the feel of his cock thrusting into her, rubbing against her g-spot in a way that was already making her insane, combined with his clever fingers and Cameron's hands palming and stroking her breasts drove Elizabeth wild.

She started to slam herself down onto John's hips. John steadied her with his other hand, but she couldn't stop. She needed to come, she was so close, and the pleasure was building so quickly, spiraling so high she couldn't breathe. She knew she was saying something but she wasn't even sure of the words spilling out of her own mouth at that moment. The release was rushing faster and faster and she ground down, pushing her body onto John's cock, into his touch, into Cameron's hands. They pushed back, Cameron pinching her nipples and John curling his finger against her clit and blackness edged her vision as the orgasm hit her with an intensity beyond anything she'd ever felt before.

She drew in a desperate breath and when she let it out, Elizabeth screamed.

*~*~*~*

John rifled through Cameron's fridge, trying not to make too much noise. He was thirsty, but not for water or milk. Honestly he kind of wanted coffee, but didn't want to put that much effort into it. He grabbed the carton of orange juice instead and poured a small glass of it.

He'd woken up with Elizabeth cuddled up against his side, holding his arm in her sleep. Cameron was behind her, also sleeping. John had extricated himself as gently as he could to use the bathroom and now, well, now he was hiding in the kitchen.

The buzz from the alcohol he'd had earlier was long gone. He hadn't drunk all that much in the first place. He didn't have the excuse of being really trashed to explain what they'd done tonight. It would've made things easier, at least for him and Cameron. Elizabeth had been pretty drunk. Tomorrow morning she could claim it was the vodka and never speak of this again.

He shifted restlessly. He knew going in that this was probably a one-shot deal, but he didn't like it. It hadn't been more than a couple of hours and he already wanted Elizabeth again. Remembering how she sounded, how she felt around him when she came, all of it made his dick twitch under his boxers just thinking about it.

And really, he'd been wanting this for months. One time just wasn't going to be enough to satisfy that.

If it had just been him and her alone, John might have found his spine and gone back to the bed and coaxed Elizabeth awake. But there was Cameron to consider, and he didn't know what that meant for the dynamic here. He also didn't know if Elizabeth would be amenable. Maybe that one time was all she wanted and she'd pat them both on the arm and that would be the end of it.

He was brooding over these thoughts when he heard the water running in the bathroom and Elizabeth appeared in the doorway. She was wearing Cameron's sweater and her socks, and as she walked John caught a glimpse of her red underwear. He couldn't help the way his eyes looked her over, and he flushed a little when he realized Elizabeth saw him staring. She just grinned at him and grabbed a glass from the cabinet and waved toward the fridge, which he was blocking. "Water."

John moved to the side. "Headache?" he asked sympathetically.

"It's making an attempt. I took something." She poured herself a huge glass of water and drank greedily. Hangovers made you dehydrated, John knew.

Elizabeth leaned against the counter on the opposite side of the small kitchen, sipping her water with one arm folded over her chest. John darted glances at her and then looked away before she noticed.

Or so he thought. "John?" Elizabeth bit her lower lip for a second. "We're okay, right?"

"Yeah," he said immediately, hating to see the vulnerability making a comeback. "We're okay." Elizabeth nodded, not looking entirely convinced. "I'm not sorry," he blurted out. That made her meet his eyes with a grateful look.

He wanted to hold her. The impulse appeared suddenly and it made his fingers clench with the intensity of it. He wanted to go to Elizabeth and put his arms around her and just hold on.

He couldn't move. Too many years of bad habits and old hurts were in the way. As usual, he was stuck, wanting to reach out somehow and unable to make it happen.

Elizabeth drained the last of her water, put the glass down, and crossed the short distance between them. As if she was reading his mind, she slid her arms around his neck and pressed herself close. John was frozen for a minute, fighting his knee-jerk desire to pull away and maintain his distance.

But this was Elizabeth holding him.

He put his own glass down and let his arms wrap around her back. She tightened her grip and John did likewise, letting his body lean into hers. He closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her hair, allowed the feeling of her slim body to sink into him.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that. His head dipped down and his lips grazed her ear before he nuzzled her neck, drawing a happy little sigh from Elizabeth. His hands slid south of their own accord, cupping her backside gently as his mouth found a sensitive spot on her neck. She shifted a bit, and he realized she was realigning their bodies so that the beginnings of his erection were pressed against the space between her thighs.

The memory of being inside her rose up and John parted his lips and let his tongue taste her skin slowly. His fingers massaged the soft flesh in his hands and Elizabeth's fingers combed through his hair over and over. When her nails toyed with his earlobe, he bit down on her skin – not hard enough to hurt, but it probably stung a bit.

Elizabeth shuddered, which made her body rub against his very nicely. John moved up, mouthing kisses along her throat and her jaw until he cupped the back of her head with one hand and kissed her deeply.

Elizabeth practically climbed up him, curling a leg around his hip as she kissed him back. She was grinding her hips against his, which sent sparks flying behind his closed eyelids. Apparently Elizabeth was okay with continuing what they had been doing earlier, at least for now. He wasn't going to question it. There was too much he wanted to do before morning.

He ducked down and grabbed her, lifting Elizabeth into his arms. She went willingly, wrapping her legs around his waist and holding on as he hefted her up. He thought briefly about the counter, but it was too high. Staggering slightly as Elizabeth licked the sweet spot just beneath his ear, he managed to carry her to the dining room and set her on the edge of the table. He pushed some things out of the way to make room, not caring about the noise or the mess.

He pulled on the bottom of the sweater and Elizabeth let him strip it off her. She wasn't wearing anything underneath and his breath caught at seeing her in the bright light from the kitchen. It had been really dark in the bedroom earlier and for a moment he just stood there staring at her, wanting to imprint this on his memory forever. Her hair was a mess and there were a few marks on her body from them already. She was gorgeous.

He bent over her and wrapped his mouth around one breast, suckling her nipple into hardness even as his fingers dug under the elastic of her panties. She helped him tug them off her ridiculously long legs. He switched to her other breast and let his palms slide up and down her thighs. He loved how her legs felt wrapped around him, but he had something else in mind at the moment.

He shifted from her breasts down to her belly, flicking his tongue against her navel before nuzzling the curve of her stomach. Elizabeth squealed, probably from the roughness of his beard stubble and he grinned at her. Then he hooked his foot around one of the chair legs and dragged it into place so he could sit down. His erection was pushing on his boxers, but he ignored it, arranging Elizabeth's legs on either side of him and stroking the inside of her thighs with his thumbs.

He could see the hitch in her breathing as she realized what he was going to do. But she leaned back, bracing herself on the table and not moving away, so he pressed a kiss against the inside of her thigh. A tiny tremble went through her and John wanted to smile. He was going to make her do a lot more than tremble before he was done.

He left lazy kisses up her thighs, alternating from side to side, then John urged her legs further apart with his hands, letting his fingers massage her folds lightly. Elizabeth shifted a bit as he rubbed and he gloated over her impatience. Finally his face was up against her curls and he breathed in the smell of her aroused body greedily. He brushed his lips against her lightly and Elizabeth shivered.

He tugged her hips a little closer to the edge of the table, and used his thumbs to hold her open to him. With aching slowness, he let his tongue start exploring Elizabeth's body, tracing the soft flesh and the dips of her folds like he was memorizing the terrain. The taste of her arousal covered his tongue and he hummed appreciatively.

He stayed away from her clit until Elizabeth was wriggling against his hands. He drew back just enough to look up at her, wondering as he did so how it was that she brought out the evil, teasing side of him so easily. She stared at him, eyes wide and pupils blown. Her skin was flushed across her neck and her breasts, which were heaving as she breathed hard.

He did that to her. He'd barely touched her, hadn't even really gotten down to business yet, and she was already this turned on. _For him._

John dipped his head and dragged his tongue across her clit. Elizabeth cried out, her thighs tensing against his arms. He tightened his fingers and began lazily drawing the alphabet with his tongue. He used to think this was an urban legend thing, back in college the first time he heard some drunken guy suggesting doing it to a girl. After all these years, though, he knew it was a good way to work a partner up and figure out what she liked best at the same time.

Problem was, his face was buried between Elizabeth's legs while he was eating her out on Cameron's dining room table. His dick was straining at his shorts and it wasn't exactly easy to concentrate.

He stopped on the letter "o" and repeated it a few times. Elizabeth let out this high pitched noise and John abandoned the other ten or so letters and kept going, circling his tongue around her clit over and over. Elizabeth started rocking into his mouth, her hips jerking in desperation and John had to dig his fingers into her skin, steadying her and keeping her from breaking his nose.

Her fingers threaded through his hair, raking over his scalp. One of her legs had landed over his shoulder and John's world narrowed to the space between her thighs, to the hot flesh in his mouth as he suckled and the taste and smell of Elizabeth on the edge of coming for him.

He wanted to feel it, wanted to slip his fingers inside her and feel the orgasm squeezing them. But Elizabeth was struggling mindlessly against his grip. She was so frantic he was afraid to let go. Her fingers tightened against the back of his head, trying to drag him even closer and he decided it was time to stop being such a bastard.

He parted his lips, sucking harder, swirling his tongue in precisely the right spot and he just managed to dodge when her hips snapped up hard as the orgasm hit her. He didn't stop, just kept licking her as Elizabeth yelled and sobbed above him, against him. Wetness covered his chin and his neck and he knew they were making a mess on Cam's table, but he didn't really care as Elizabeth bucked several times as he rode her though the release.

Finally, she let out a moan and her fingers feebly attempted to push his head away. He pulled off, smirking at the sound and sat back in the chair. Elizabeth had collapsed all the way onto her back on the table. She had one arm over her eyes and John had a fantastic view of her body, like a contoured map spread out in front of him, with her belly and breasts making the peaks between the valleys of her hips, her abdomen. Without thinking, his hand slid down her leg and his fingers gently stroked the inside of the ankle that rested on his shoulder.

He wasn't sure if there was a noise or he just felt it, but John craned his neck and found Cameron standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. He was naked and although John jerked his eyes away fast, he still saw the obvious hard on his partner was sporting.

For the first time in a very long time, John couldn't quite read the expression on Cameron's face. So he stayed in the chair, looking from him to Elizabeth, and waited.

*~*~*~*

It took all Cameron's willpower not to wrap his hand around his dick and jerk off right there as he watched Elizabeth come. He'd woken up alone in the bed and then heard noises and come down the hallway to find Elizabeth naked and on her back on his kitchen table, with John's head between her legs.

She was flushed, gorgeous and writhing around as John ate her out. Her skin shone slightly in the low light, sweat outlining her abdomen, her breasts, her neck. Her nipples were hard little points he wanted to suck and lick and she was clinging to the table and moaning louder and louder as John worked her up.

Cameron thought watching Elizabeth earlier had been the hottest thing he'd ever seen. It seemed he should wait until morning until giving that title away.

John glanced over at him, looking slightly uncomfortable at getting caught, although it wasn't like there had been any rules put down about how this would all work. Besides, Cam got to see the important part.

He also didn't miss the way John's eyes darted down to his cock, which was fully at attention.

As if she sensed the tension, Elizabeth opened her eyes. She raised an eyebrow at Cam. "Enjoying the show?"

"Absolutely," he shot back, coming over to the table. He fondled her breast gently with one hand. He looked over at John. "Though the kitchen table is an interesting twist."

John shrugged, grinning a bit. "It was nearby."

Elizabeth frowned, confused, so he explained, "When I've fantasized about going down on you, we're usually in bed."

It was kind of cute the way she blushed at that. But one of the many things he loved about Elizabeth was that she never got thrown off her game for very long. She reached out and they both took an arm and pulled her into a sitting position. "I'll admit, none of my fantasies have ever involved your kitchen table. Or mine for that matter. I may have to rethink that." She gave John a lascivious grin. "There are definitely advantages to the set-up."

Cam looked at the remnants of the dinner they hadn't finished earlier, now made a total mess by the other two shoving stuff out of the way. "I'd suggest starting with a clean and empty table," he said with a sigh.

"We'll clean it up later." Elizabeth dragged him down into a fierce kiss and Cam forgot about the messy table and pretty much everything else as her tongue wound itself around his. When she tried to pull back he resisted for a minute, because his dick was suggesting that he should turn her to face him and just slip inside of her right here...

Finally he remembered himself and backed off. Elizabeth stroked her fingers down his chest, looking from him to John a little hesitantly. "Speaking of fantasies," she began quietly. This night was supposed to be about Elizabeth, after all.

John slid his hand over her knee, squeezing gently. "Anything you want, Elizabeth," he told her again.

She drew in a deep breath, just as she had earlier when they'd coaxed her first confession out of her. Part of Cameron ached over that. She shouldn't have to feel so reluctant about asking for something like this, especially from two very willing partners. He really wanted to go smack the hell out of this Simon guy.

Of course, that was only a tiny portion of his brain at the moment, because the rest of his mind was wondering what exactly Elizabeth might have in mind for them next.

She paused for a second and then shook her head. "This will be easier if I show you. If... if that's okay?"

John rolled his eyes. "I mentioned the whole 'anything you want' part already, didn't I?" he asked sarcastically, poking her in the ribs.

Elizabeth actually stuck her tongue out at John for that. She slid off the table with a squeak and pulled both of them back to the bedroom. Cam watched as she prodded John to lie down on his back, at an angle across the bed. When Elizabeth climbed up and knelt between his legs, John lost all of his cocky attitude in a hurry. She palmed his dick, sliding her hand up and down slowly and John grabbed for the pillow and the rumpled sheets, groaning.

Cam groaned right along with him, because Elizabeth was looking over her shoulder at him with a challenging expression on her face. He realized she had spread her knees wide and was bent over. She wanted him behind her, while she was going to go down on John.

"Fuck," he muttered for the umpteenth time that night. He snatched a condom from somewhere under a pillow and rolled it on. Elizabeth was doing something to John with her hand he couldn't see, though from the noises he was making, Cam guessed she was playing with his balls. He was too busy finding a position with all their legs tangled up across the bed to look. Finally he settled, his cock brushing against Elizabeth's ass very nicely. He rubbed himself against her, feeling Elizabeth shudder as he touched her hips and her back.

He watched as Elizabeth leaned down. He could just see over her shoulder the way her lips wrapped around John's cock and slid down with excruciating slowness. John choked out a noise, and Cam could see him gripping the pillow tightly as Elizabeth went all the way down on him and then pulled back. She had a hand on the base to steady him and Cam flashed back to kissing her, to how her tongue felt in his mouth. The thought of her doing that to his dick made him grunt, pushing into her hips harder than he intended.

But she wiggled against him and he figured that meant she was ready. With one hand on her back, he used his other hand to guide himself into her.

Tight and hot, not quite as tight as earlier but damn she still felt amazing. He went slow, not wanting to hurt her, and Elizabeth moaned around the mouthful of John's cock as he penetrated her fully. All the way in he stopped, resting there, savoring the feeling of being inside Elizabeth, watching her start to suck John off faster, her head moving up and down more quickly.

John's eyes flickered open for a minute. He looked completely gone. He was panting so hard Cameron could see his chest moving even in the low light. One of John's hands moved down and his fingers tangled in Elizabeth's hair. He was making noises, harsh and pleading, and Cam could feel Elizabeth's pussy tightening in reaction to the way John was begging her to make him come.

Cam rocked into Elizabeth. He had to. He was mesmerized by what he was watching, though, so it was just a little movement, but Elizabeth gasped and her body pushed back against his instinctively. He knew John was too close to losing it for all three of them to come at the same time, but this was just insanely hot and wild and slightly twisted.

Elizabeth's arm moved and John whimpered. This time Cam was positive she was touching his balls. Her head bobbed up and down now, but not too fast, and John's face was contorted with pleasure and desperation. He was muttering, "Fuck, Elizabeth, I'm... I'm-"

She didn't stop and Cam's dick throbbed because she was swallowing as John came. Her body spasmed around him as she pulled away from John and he couldn't seem to stop himself from taking her harder. He barely managed to pull back, concentrating on Elizabeth for a clue about what she needed him to do, but he wanted to just drive into her until they both screamed.

Elizabeth managed to prop herself up on her arms and her hips shoved back into his. "God damn it, Cameron," she growled in a rough voice that barely sounded like her. All her modesty and restraint were gone now, and she didn't ask so much as demand, "Fuck me. Hard."

His control snapped. He grabbed her hips tightly and started pounding into Elizabeth's body. She wanted it, he assured himself as he fucked her deeply. She was moving with him, moaning and trembling, and he could feel her pussy fluttering as she got closer. He wasn't completely sure he could last but then John suddenly was lying across the bed and Cam saw him snake his hand up to rub Elizabeth's clit.

Her face fell down against John's stomach and Cam felt her react to the stimulation of John's fingers. He felt it with every nerve of his body, in fact. "Come on, Elizabeth," he begged. She was slick and throbbing and he wanted to feel the orgasm as he fucked her through the climax. "Come on."

She didn't scream this time, but the moan was loud and long and her release went on forever, or at least it felt like that to him. She got impossibly tighter and hotter as he kept sliding into her unsteadily.

Elizabeth twitched and shuddered and Cam hauled her backwards. Her legs parted on either side of his knees, so she was spread open and leaning back against his chest, impaled on his cock as she sprawled across his lap. She grabbed his arm for balance. He held her hips, working her up and down, but Elizabeth reached for John.

"Don't stop," she gasped out, bringing John's hand to her clit again.

John followed obediently, wiggling around so that he could rub her clit and suckle on her breasts. Elizabeth was mashed up in between them and Cam could hardly believe it but he felt her start to come _again_. Mindlessly she shifted as much as she could, moving as Cam thrust up into her, sobbing as her body climaxed again. Cam lost track of the convulsions; they just kept coming and nobody stopped. He kept fucking her pussy, John kept rubbing her clit and kissing and licking her breasts while Elizabeth clung to them both.

There was a tiny lull and he thought for a second it was over, and not a moment too soon because his balls ached and the familiar pressure had built low in his spine that meant he was just about to lose it. Then Elizabeth's head snapped up from his shoulder and her fingers dug into John's arm. "Oh God, John, _right there_, yes, _that_, oh God, Cam, oh God... oh GOD-"

Elizabeth's body tightened around his cock one last time – so much that he nearly couldn't move for a moment – and then Cam jerked, shoving up into her and coming hard as she almost shrieked out her orgasm in his arms. Something hot and wet hit his thighs, and for a second he feared the condom had broken, but whatever the fluid was it was hitting his skin too hard to be that.

Elizabeth crumpled, her entire body going utterly boneless, and John had to catch her to keep her from tumbling onto the mattress. They stayed still for a minute, everyone panting madly, and Cameron's dazed brain caught up with him.

"You squirted," he muttered in her ear. Elizabeth twitched and John looked at him in surprise. Cam grinned. "You came so hard you squirted all over me, Elizabeth."

She was slumped against John, her head on his shoulder, so her voice was muffled. "I did?" Her voice cracked a little, and Cameron realized she was trembling.

John seemed to notice it at the same time. Wordlessly Cameron lifted her up enough so that his dick slid out of her. She whimpered again and they laid her down on the bed, her body nestled safely in between them. Cameron pulled up one of the blankets while John rubbed her arms and let Elizabeth curl into him. "Shh, it's okay. We've got you, Elizabeth."

Cameron spooned up against her back and after a minute Elizabeth sighed. "That's never happened before," she confessed lowly. She managed to open her eyes and look up at the two men who were looking down at her in concern. "I didn't think I could."

He couldn't help the smirk on his face and a glance up proved John couldn't either. Elizabeth rolled her eyes before she yawned and they both settled down on either side of her. He was exhausted as well now and ready for a ten hour nap. But Cameron felt John poke Elizabeth's ribs one last time. She jerked away from his tickling but with Cam behind her, there wasn't really anywhere to go. But John was merciful and just grinned, whispering, "You're welcome."

Elizabeth actually snorted at that, and all three of them chuckled before drifting off to sleep.

 

*~*~*~*

 

She drifted for a while, her mind resisting waking fully until the warmth of the bed and the weight of the two bodies on either side of her became too present to ignore. But even when she opened her eyes, Elizabeth didn't move right away.

John looked younger when he was asleep. His hair was an impossible mess, and she could see the shadow of beard stubble on his cheeks. He was curled up facing her, one arm wound around hers against the bed. Cameron's warm breath hit the nape of her neck through her hair, and he had a heavy arm slung around her waist.

Moments from the night before flickered through her mind as she just kept still for a long while, trying to process everything. She wasn't an impulsive person by nature, and this was a fairly impulsive thing for her to have done.

If acting on her fantasies after six months could be called impulsive.

One of the reasons she'd never really considered taking this step was because she couldn't fathom what would happen afterwards. And here she was, completely clueless about what to do next.

For starters, she supposed she should get out of the bed.

It took a lot of effort to wiggle out of their embrace without waking anyone, and that Elizabeth was somewhat reluctant to get up at all didn't help. Finally she got free. Her head hurt but not as badly as it could have. She picked up her clothes from where they'd been tossed and went into the bathroom.

The woman staring back at her in the mirror was slack-jawed, with circles under her eyes and a bird's nest for hair. She looked… like a woman who'd let two men fuck her senseless for hours, and satisfaction warred with shame for a moment. Elizabeth splashed water on her face and tidied her hair. She got her clothes on, noting that she had small, finger-shaped bruises on her hips and thighs and lingering marks in other places. She traced her fingers over the discolorations, perversely glad of these pieces of evidence that last night had happened.

Then she checked the mirror quickly to make sure nothing was visible outside her clothes. She didn't want to have to explain this to anyone. Not when she still wasn't entirely able to explain it to herself.

She took some more painkillers and drew in a deep breath. She'd have to wake the guys up before she left. If there was any hope of maintaining their friendship and any semblance of normalcy, she couldn't just run out, though the idea was tempting. It would be less embarrassing to deal with the aftermath over the phone. She wasn't entirely certain of her own self-control, not to mention having no real idea what to say to them. But she owed them that much.

Elizabeth meant to go back into the bedroom, but she heard noises coming from the kitchen. At least she wouldn't have to stand awkwardly by the bed while the two of them were naked and staring up at her. The two guys were maneuvering around the kitchen with familiar ease, Cameron in sweats and a t-shirt and John in his jeans and a fleece pullover she knew was Cameron's. John was setting up the coffee maker while Cameron was fussing with a measuring cup and a bowl. He was the one who noticed her first. "Morning," he said evenly. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah," she said, a little taken aback by how calm they were.

John raised his eyebrows. "Cameron's snoring didn't keep you up?"

Cameron glared. "I do not snore."

"You do when you're sitting upright on the couch," John retorted.

Cameron whacked John on the arm with a spatula. "Go clean up the mess you made last night. Or no pancakes for you."

John made one of his puppy faces, but he turned and headed for the wreckage of the table. Feeling somewhat guilty, Elizabeth followed and helped him as they threw out the food which had been sitting all night. She found some all-purpose cleaner and scrubbed the table while John washed the dishes. By the time they were done the coffee was ready. Elizabeth poured it into cups and even added the milk she knew John liked before she sat down at the clean table with her own mug.

She couldn't keep her foot from tapping nervously. The whole scene was so normal and domestic. Part of her had been expecting a lot more anxiety and unease, especially from them.

But then, wasn't this the point? That they all knew each other, trusted each other enough to take this in stride?

John set the table, looking at her critically. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," she said automatically. She added hurriedly, "I should get going soon, though. I'm leaving tomorrow for my mother's and I haven't finished packing yet."

John gave her a look and Cameron turned from the stove and did the same. "You're freaking out," Cameron said flatly.

She wilted under their twin stares. "Maybe a little." Possibly a lot. But it was more that she was freaking out about how not freakish this all was. If that even made any sense. She must be more hung over than she realized.

John didn't say anything else. He sat down across the table from her. Cameron walked over and plopped a bottle of maple syrup on the table. "Well, freaking out or not, you're not leaving without breakfast."

"Yes, mom," she shot back reflexively. John laughed and Cameron mock-glared, going back to the stove in a huff.

John tapped her ankle with his foot. "Cameron actually makes very good pancakes. You don't want to miss that," he said, and even though his face was a little more studiously blank than normal, she could see in his eyes he was also questioning, wondering how all this was going to play out. She realized one of the reasons Cameron was making breakfast was probably to give him something to do with his hands so he could appear calm.

Perversely, those things made her feel better. She sipped her coffee and looked over at Cameron. "You got any bacon?"

*~*~*~*~*

 

Christmas was weird.

John and Cameron spent Christmas Eve with Janet and their friends as usual. Everyone was razzing John about his promotion, with a small sense of sadness underneath it. Ronon had been particularly unhappy about this turn of events, but Janet was using him as manual labor a lot around the house to keep him distracted. And that domesticity was just odd to witness, even if there hadn't been anything else going on.

Thankfully, any lingering weirdness between him and Cameron was easy to write off to the impending end of their partnership, and nobody seemed to have any idea that something else might be going on.

John tried to tell himself he was being paranoid and over-exaggerating minor things, but then every so often Cameron would get this look on his face or suddenly back away like he was afraid of standing too close or something. And John was hyperaware of it whenever he was near Cameron, worried he was standing too close or doing something abnormal.

The thing was, he didn't know why he was feeling this way. Okay, yes, having three-way sex wasn't something most people did regularly, but it wasn't like nobody else in the world had ever done it. John had some serious suspicions about Lorne, for one. And nobody had been forced into anything. He and Cameron had both been really careful with Elizabeth that night, making sure she wasn't feeling pressured. She'd been in charge, telling him and Cameron what to do.

He couldn't stop thinking about it, about having her himself, about watching her with Cameron.

He was pretty sure Cameron couldn't stop thinking about it either.

This hadn't been part of the plan. Not that there had been a plan to begin with. At the time he'd been too focused on Elizabeth, on wanting to give her what she needed, no matter what it was.

And he still wanted her. He wanted to see her again, and weirdest of all, he didn't just want her all to himself. He wanted to see her with Cameron again.

He was puttering in the kitchen of the firehouse when Cameron came in. The two of them were working Christmas Day, as they usually did, because neither of them had family in the area, and at the moment they were alone. Teyla and Ronon would be arriving any minute to start their shift.

Ordinarily the two of them could move around each other without having to think. Now they were awkward and fumbling, as John tried to maneuver out of the way and ended up blocking Cameron for a minute before he shifted the other direction. He tossed the spoon he'd been using into the sink with a clatter.

"What?"

John sighed in frustration. Most of the time he hated having any sort of serious conversation with people, but he was too irritated to keep his mouth shut right now. "I was thinking it's probably just as well we're not going to be working together much longer if we can't even manage to navigate around a kitchen."

Cameron chuckled, rather humorlessly. "You're probably right." They both leaned against the counter, side by side. Then Cameron said quietly, "I can't get it out of my head."

John expelled a breath in relief. "Me neither."

"I mean that whole night was…"

John nodded. "I've never done anything like that before."

"Yeah."

John looked up and saw his own confusion mirrored in his friend's face. Then he noticed that Cameron was staring at his mouth, and he licked his lips, unable to help it.

Cameron swallowed and looked away. "John, I'm not…"

"I know," he interrupted, although he wasn't entirely certain what Cameron was about to say, but his stomach was flipping around suddenly, and he couldn't say for sure whether it was in a good or bad way. "I'm not-" he started to answer but Cameron cut him off.

"I know. It's just…"

They were leaning towards each other and John couldn't tell who started it, but his own eyes were on Cameron's lips right now, while a number of memories of that night flashed through his mind. Not to mention a number of other memories from the last several years, all of it flooding through him with more force than he could have anticipated. He swallowed and drew in a deep breath.

The outside door banged, signaling that someone was entering the fire house. John jerked back in alarm and saw Cameron do the same thing. Ronon's heavy boots were unmistakable and John took his coffee and went out into the lounge, not entirely sure what the hell had just happened.

*~*~*~*

Elizabeth loved her family and she loved Christmas. But this year she was almost relieved when it was over and she headed back to Denver. It wasn't that her family did anything wrong, but she couldn't settle down, couldn't get her head to stop spinning endlessly.

She hoped getting back to her apartment would help with the restlessness but she had no messages from either of the guys waiting for her, and her heart sank.

This was the reason why she'd resisted her attraction to John and Cameron for so long. Elizabeth was really afraid she'd mangled her friendships with them both beyond repair in just one night.

One incredible, mind-blowing night, yes, but still. It wasn't like it was going to become a regular occurrence.

And it wasn't worth losing either of them.

Elizabeth had never been good at sitting back and hoping for things to fix themselves. The day after she got back to Denver, she tried calling both of them and got their voice mail. Steeling herself, she put the box of leftover cookies her mother had pressed on her into her car and drove to the fire station. She spotted John's truck and Cameron's car in the back.

When she knocked on the door, though, Teyla answered. Elizabeth pushed her disappointment aside and considered that maybe it would be easier for the three of them to come face to face again when there were people around. At least that way they wouldn't feel obligated to talk about anything from that night.

The guys were both clearly surprised to see her. She hugged them both, straining to remember if that was how they'd always greeted each other or not, but then it was over and there was no going back. "I brought cookies."

Teyla groaned. "If I eat any more sugar I'm going to become diabetic."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Funny, that's why I figured I'd foist these off on you all."

"We could just make Ronon eat 'em," Cameron put in.

John snorted. "I don't know. I think Ronon's stomach has met its match with Janet's obsession with holiday baking."

"Really? What happened?" Elizabeth sat down at the table and listened as the they told her about the Christmas Eve party and bit by bit she began to relax. She was able to look at both John and Cameron and meet their eyes and not blush or flinch. They both seemed to get their bearings as well as the conversation went on. She began to hope that things would be okay again, eventually.

Evan and Kate were back from visiting their families, and apparently Vala had won the pool because Evan had proposed just before Christmas. They were having a New Year's party at Evan's apartment that was doubling as an engagement party. Elizabeth looked at the guys. "Will you be there?"

Cameron nodded. "We got New Year's Eve off. Trade off for working Christmas."

"So I'll see you there?" she asked, preparing to leave. She watched as the two of them glanced at one another and quickly looked away before they agreed, and felt a vague sense of worry.

She might be okay with John and Cameron, but what if things weren't all right between them?

*~*~*~*

Cameron had never really understood the point of New Year's Eve. Once you got old enough to stay up till midnight whenever you wanted, a lot of the mystery went away. And when you routinely had nobody to kiss, watching the ball drop was an anticlimax.

Part of him thought it had been easier when there was nobody he even wanted to kiss at midnight. Now he was hellishly confused.

He knew most of his friends thought he was sulking a bit, lurking in corners in Evan's apartment while everybody else celebrated Evan and Kate's engagement. He'd had several beers already and his mood was growing more dour by the minute.

He knew going in that the night with Elizabeth – and John – had been a one-time deal. They weren't going to make a habit of it. He'd spent the whole week of Christmas reminding himself of that over and over. He'd had to clamp down hard on his impulses when Elizabeth breezed into the fire house the other day without warning, because he'd wanted to do a lot more than politely hug her.

That one night hadn't been enough. Not even close. He still wanted her, possibly more so than he had before.

Elizabeth was chatting with Kate, and behind them, Cameron saw John and Evan talking about something possibly involving planes given the way John was gesturing.

Cameron looked out the window and took another long drink.

He didn't just want Elizabeth. He wanted both of them. That night had shaken apart a carefully constructed and maintained set of rules he'd set for himself years ago. But for the last week, his fantasies had been full of memories of both of them. Not just Elizabeth in his arms and in his bed, but John - his expression when Elizabeth had been blowing him, the way the muscles in his back had looked while he was eating Elizabeth out on the table.

Cameron had been attracted to John for a long time, but they were partners and best friends and John was, so far as Cameron knew, straight. Hell, when they'd met John had been in the middle of his divorce. Cameron had just put his feelings aside and left them there. Which had worked, more or less, until now.

Until he'd nearly kissed John the other day while they were on duty.

He drained his beer, put the bottle in the recycling and got another. That moment in the fire house kitchen was haunting him almost more than what the three of them had done the other night, because in that split second where his whole body had honed in on John's mouth, John sure as hell hadn't seemed like he was objecting.

What if he'd been wrong about John? All this time? What if he could have them both, John and Elizabeth?

It was insane, of course, and greedy and he knew in the real world things just didn't work that way, because he just wasn't that lucky, but it was what he wanted.

John had been... not exactly avoiding him since that moment in the kitchen, but certainly not making eye contact any more than necessary. And they hadn't been alone since then outside of work, and driving the van while some guy puked his guts out all over the back from drinking too much holiday liqueur wasn't really a good time to have a conversation about feelings and the nature of human sexuality.

Plus getting John to talk about things was like pulling teeth.

Cameron sighed. They were going to have to talk about it eventually. John started his new job on Monday and it would be too easy to let it go and just let their friendship die along with their partnership due to distance. He didn't want that either. As much as he wanted them both, he didn't want to lose either of them. If he had to shove the genie back in the bottle to keep his friendship with John alive, he'd find a way.

Elizabeth seemed to be working hard to make things normal between herself and both of them. She still got self-conscious sometimes, when somebody said something flirtatious or even innocuous to anyone but the three of them. She was good at covering, but Cameron knew her pretty well by now and he could see it. He knew indulging in that way had been out of character for her. Then he remembered her face when she had been sandwiched between him and John, the way she had cried out and all of the tension had gone out of her. He thought Elizabeth needed to let go like that more often. Preferably while naked with him and John.

He cursed silently. His brain had been chasing around in these circles for days without getting anywhere. It was making him crazy.

*~*~*~*

Midnight approached and Elizabeth was now officially panicking about Cameron and John. Both of them seemed to be making an effort to act normally with her, but it was plain as day that they were avoiding each other like the plague. She managed to ask Teyla in a roundabout way if the two of them had been behaving like this all through the holidays. Teyla told her she thought the impending end of a partnership that had lasted for so many years was probably bothering them, and being guys, they weren't going to actually talk to each other and deal with the situation.

Teyla didn't know the half of it, of course. Elizabeth knew it could have just been work that was bothering them, but she doubted it.

She positioned herself so that they were both with her as the clock struck twelve. There was some sheepish looks as everyone else cheered the new year. Elizabeth turned to John and put her arm around his neck and kissed his cheek, then she turned around and did the same thing to Cameron. She looked at them both and spoke low enough that nobody else would hear. "I'm leaving in five minutes for home. I think we need to talk."

She didn't say anything else and she moved away to hug Teyla and Ronon and Janet and wish them a happy new year. When she did extricate herself from the party, she wasn't surprised as she started up her car to see John and Cameron both come out of the building, heading for John's car.

They got to her apartment a few minutes after she did. She let them in without comment.

When they were all standing in her living room and the awkward silence was getting to be too much, she shook her head. "You promised me this wasn't going to happen. I told you, repeatedly, I didn't want to be responsible for hurting your friendship with each other." Neither of them met her eyes and Elizabeth's throat closed up. "You _promised_," she repeated, her voice cracking.

"Elizabeth," John started, both of them now looking upset because she was near to crying. Cameron reached for her but she drew away, folding her arms over herself.

"I never should have done it," she said, almost to herself. "I never should've provoked you both like that. It was stupid." It wasn't until the words were out that she realized what she'd just admitted, and her cheeks flushed.

"Elizabeth, you…" Well, they were looking at each other now, she thought bleakly. Cameron was glancing to John and back to her in surprise. "You did that on purpose?"

She hedged. "I didn't plan it. I just... we'd all been dancing around each other for so long, and I was tired of it, and I was upset about Simon, so I pulled out vodka and figured we'd see what happened." She turned away. "I should've stopped it. I never should've said yes, not when I knew what the consequences could be."

"Elizabeth, don't do this," John broke into her self-flagellation. "Nobody here was forced into anything that night. We were both a lot less drunk than you were and we knew what we were getting into."

She whirled around. "Then look me in the eye and tell me everything is fine between you two."

The two men stared at one another for a long moment. John folded his lips tightly, the way he did when he was trying to tamp down on his feelings. Cameron looked away first and scrubbed his hand over his face. "It's not because of you, Elizabeth. It's me."

She looked at him uncertainly, and it seemed to take a long while for Cameron to figure out what the rest of his explanation was going to be. It was unusual for him to be so silent and her anxiety jumped another notch.

Finally he sighed. "I can't stop thinking about that night, and about you." He hesitated for a moment and then glanced at John. "_Both_ of you."

John just blinked at Cameron, his expression not changing. Cameron swallowed and looked away. "I didn't really expect this, so I don't know what to do. And the other day, I didn't mean to…" He trailed off and John seemed to shake himself slightly.

"What happened the other day?" Elizabeth asked cautiously.

Neither of them spoke right away and she had to restrain herself from starting to scream at them.

John looked like he was piecing a puzzle together. Cameron looked sheepish. "I didn't want to make it weird between us," he continued. "I don't want it to be weird. We've been friends too long to screw that up."

Finally, as if sensing that she was seconds away from jumping up and down in frustration, Cameron turned to her. "John kind of caught me looking the other day. At him." His cheeks and ears were flushed and she realized he was blushing in embarrassment. She'd never seen him that flustered about anything. He shrugged, attempting to look casual, but there was too much tension in his body and she wasn't buying his lackadaisical attitude. "Blame it on the dry spell I was going through before that night, right? Been so long I'd forgotten what it could be like."

Elizabeth was fairly sure that for none of them had sex ever been like it had been that night. Cameron's excuses weren't going to wash. She remembered catching him watching John more than once that night, and now in hindsight she realized it had meant more than simple curiosity. She had no idea if Cameron was actually bisexual in practice or whether it was just this particular situation that had brought something out in him. But she suddenly didn't want to let him back away from the truth, even if it would make him and John more comfortable. She'd been stripped bare, in more ways than one, before both of them. They owed her that same honesty.

"Don't do that," she told him. "Don't dodge."

Cameron shot her a warning look, anger flaring in his eyes for a moment. She ignored it. She'd seen his temper first-hand and it didn't frighten her.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "The least we owe each other is honesty. If the deal here is that I try to stop being ashamed and be honest about what I want, then you two need to do the same. Otherwise it's not fair to you." She glanced at John, who was looking from her to Cameron rapidly. It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that she realized what she'd just done.

It hadn't been her intention to bring them here to suggest that their one night stand could become more than that, but she'd just opened the door to the possibility, intentionally or not. She was still nervous and worried about these two men who'd become so ridiculously important to her, but she wasn't the old Elizabeth any more. She wasn't willing to back away and hide just because this was unfamiliar territory, and she would be damned if she'd let Cameron or John get away with doing the same thing.

Cameron seemed torn between glaring and gaping. He sputtered but didn't speak. She looked over at John. She never understood how other people could find him hard to read, because while even she couldn't guess precisely what he was thinking, his emotions were written across his face. He was staring at them both in shock, and Elizabeth read the longing in his eyes. He didn't move, as though his feet were glued to the floor, but she silently willed him to do something, anything, to let them know what he wanted.

*~*~*~*

Through the chaos swirling in his mind over Cameron's admission and Elizabeth's little slip, John could feel himself tensing. His heart was racing and part of him wanted to run for the door and never look back. He didn't know how to do this. Casual sex, a one night stand, those things he could handle. He could handle friendship too. But this was something infinitely more complicated and he was not good at this sort of thing, as his divorce papers proved. He didn't want to hurt Cameron and he couldn't hurt Elizabeth. And he would. It was inevitable.

But he looked at Elizabeth, her eyes pleading with him to say something. He noted the way Cameron was coiled in on himself, preparing for things to go badly, because whenever Cam got close to something he wanted, it got snatched away. And for the first time, it dawned on him that standing here frozen and so far away was hurting them _now_.

His voice barely sounded like his own. "What do you want, Cameron?"

Cam turned towards him and John saw some of his own panic in his partner's face. Cam didn't say anything; rather he opened his mouth but nothing came out. But his eyes darted down to John's lips, like they had back in the fire house a few days ago.

The thought of kissing Cameron Mitchell hadn't been something John had considered before, but at that moment, it seemed like a worthwhile idea. John felt like he was swimming in molasses, crossing the room like he had to fight to move, but he did it. Cameron remained frozen, watching him with an almost frightened expression on his face, which wasn't helping. Finally they were face to face.

John had gotten himself into a lot of trouble in his life by going with his gut instinct, and this was probably going to end up being yet another example, but he reached up with one hand and then leaned forward and kissed Cameron.

It felt weird and wrong and strange and exciting all at once. Different from kissing Elizabeth, certainly, but also good. It took a long moment for Cam to get over his shock and respond. He was tentative at first, and John wasn't entirely sure what to do, so he kept it light, until he felt fingers threading through his hair and tugging him closer. Suddenly Cameron's tongue was in his mouth and their beard stubble was catching which only added to the feeling of newness. Cam was a hell of a kisser, John realized dimly, holding on and trying to keep up and breathe until finally he pushed until his lips were free and he could draw in air again.

He was hard inside his jeans. John didn't know if it was from the shock or the sense of rebellion or what. Usually he had better control than this, but he'd gotten fully hard the first time he'd kissed Elizabeth the other night too.

She was watching them both, her fingers pressed lightly against her own lips. John recognized her expression even though he'd only seen it a few times before. She was turned on too, from watching them kiss. It shouldn't have surprised him, since he was well aware of Elizabeth's kinky side, but he hadn't considered that watching two grown men kissing would make her react this way.

Immediately the dirty side of his brain started wondering about other things and how they would affect Elizabeth. He pushed that train of thought aside for the moment.

The three of them were in this together. They'd all opened the can of worms the other night, and Elizabeth had already indicated she understood this wasn't over. John had no idea what would happen next, but he'd already taken the first step. And he owed both of these people to see it through to the end, even though right now he had no idea how it could possibly not end badly. He pushed that thought away as well.

These were the two most important people in his life, and he was tired of running away.

Somehow it was easier to reach for Elizabeth now than it had been before, when it was just him alone. Now he held out his hand and drew Elizabeth closer to him and Cameron, brushing his lips against the back of her knuckles lightly as he did.

His other hand was on Cameron's neck now, but Cameron wasn't looking at either of them. His head was down and his eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply. John didn't know what to do, but Elizabeth nestled up against him, kissing Cameron's lips gently, coaxing him until he responded and his arm circled her waist.

She brushed her lips against his one last time, then whispered, "Tell us," mimicking what John had said to her the other night.

Cameron shook his head once, like he was saying no or trying to wake himself up. John shifted closer to them both and Elizabeth squeezed his hand. Without thinking, John's thumb moved gently against the warm skin above Cam's collarbone. Elizabeth's arm was curled around Cam's shoulder.

His eyes opened and he looked frantically from one to the other. John didn't think he'd ever seen Cameron quite this rattled, but underneath the fear was something just as primal, just as powerful.

"Both of you," he rasped out. His hand clutched at John's jacket. "I want both of you. So much. All the damn time." His arm tightened, bringing Elizabeth even closer to his body, and John felt a tremor work through his own body. He'd been thinking about Cam and Elizabeth almost nonstop for over a week now, so he had an idea of what his partner was feeling.

Elizabeth laughed lightly. "I know what you mean." John and Cameron both looked down at her in surprise and she blushed. "Well, it's true. Christmas week lasted an eternity." She leaned her head against Cameron's shoulder and grinned up at John. "I couldn't stop thinking about either of you."

John knew what she was doing – taking some of the pressure off Cameron before he could panic too badly – and it just reminded him of all the reasons he admired and possibly loved her. She cared about other people so much, and she had no problem showing it.

He nodded, running his thumb across the backs of her fingers, and looked at Cameron. "So, what do we do about it?"

It was their last chance to stop, to get the hell out of this messed up moment and back away. John saw Cameron consider that, saw the temptation to run like hell cross Cam's face. He felt the same way. But it was replaced by a focused look and John wasn't terribly surprised when Cameron cupped the back of his head and dragged him into another fierce kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

He stopped thinking. More than that, Cameron refused to think. Thinking would make the reality of what he was doing sink in and that would lead to panicking and hell, possibly vomiting. Or running away.

So he just stopped thinking, and let something more basic take over.

John's lips were rough against his, but he was slowly starting to respond to the kiss.

All these years, Cameron had simply repressed any thought about John's mouth or his lips. That was a lot of repression, a lot of thoughts he'd had to ignore.

Cameron bit down on John's lower lip and earned himself a moan, and then John's tongue was meeting his frantically. It certainly beat the hell out of a sad fantasy.

He did retain enough presence of mind not to push too far. John was close enough that Cameron could feel his erection, but for all Cameron knew that was due to the prospect of getting to have sex with Elizabeth again.

That thought made him draw away from John's mouth. He couldn't resist brushing his thumb over John's lips once. John was panting, his mouth wet and red, and his pupils were dilated. He was staring at Cameron with surprise but no anger or revulsion. That was good.

Elizabeth's cheeks were red and she was gaping almost stupidly at them. Cameron raised an eyebrow and she looked chagrined. "Sorry. I'm not sure what…" She swallowed. "I didn't think it would be so… I mean, seeing you together…"

In the last half a year, Cameron had never seen Elizabeth at a loss for words. He grabbed her hips and pulled her so she was standing in between him and John, but he looked at his partner with a dirty smirk. "We'll have to remember that."

John grinned. "Definitely."

Cameron leaned down and kissed Elizabeth hard. She melted in his arms, exactly the way she had the first time he'd kissed her. Since that night, Cameron's X-rated fantasies about Elizabeth hadn't abated. If anything they'd gotten more intense, because now he knew what it was like to have her. There were so many things he hadn't gotten to do yet, and he wanted to do them all.

He pulled back and looked at Elizabeth. This time she was sober, and in spite of the fact that his cock was straining at his pants from being so aroused, he wasn't sure how she wanted this to go.

Elizabeth stared back, then she seemed to guess what he was thinking. She took a half step backwards, reaching and John caught her hands and let her lean against him instinctively. The expression on her face was sultry and seductive though he could see her steady her nerves before she spoke.

"You going to give us some instructions here, or do John and I have to get started without you?" She reached up and touched John's cheek as she spoke and he caught her fingers in his mouth for a second. She glanced up at John and they grinned at each other before looking back to Cameron expectantly.

For a moment Cameron feared he might have a heart attack, given how his pulse skyrocketed. He managed to take a deep breath. "Bedroom," he said tersely.

"With or without clothes?" John asked. Elizabeth laughed, Cameron glared, and the three of them moved down the hallway into the bedroom. She flipped the light on. It was only a small lamp on the nightstand but it was enough to see clearly.

Cameron stripped out of his clothes swiftly, his eyes enjoying the sight of Elizabeth doing the same thing. As soon as she was naked, he pushed her gently to the foot of her bed. It was big and the frame had four posts. There were a number of things he could imagine doing with them, but for now, he simply made Elizabeth sit on the edge of the bed, then went to his knees in front of her.

He heard her moan as he nuzzled the inside of her thigh, but he was intent on his target at the moment. He urged her to part her legs further, then he was holding her open and licking her clit. Elizabeth tasted as perfect as he'd always imagined, and he drank in the taste and smell of her arousal eagerly.

The bed shifted and he pulled back enough to glance up. John had climbed onto the bed and scooted up behind Elizabeth. She leaned back against him and he cupped her breasts in his hands. John's eyes met Cameron's for a moment and Cameron went back to teasing Elizabeth. His tongue stroked over her flesh, experimenting until he found a particular spot that made her gasp out a tiny breath every time he licked her there.

As he settled in, his pace slow enough to prevent Elizabeth from coming quickly, he heard John start talking. "You do love this, don't you Elizabeth. Spread your legs and let one of us eat you out until you scream."

Elizabeth's body was tense and her back arched, her hips trying to get closer to Cameron's mouth. She was gripping John's arms so hard there were going to be marks. Cameron lightened his touch as John kept speaking. "Tell us, Elizabeth. Is it good? You like his tongue on your clit?"

Elizabeth whimpered, her legs tightening around Cameron's shoulders. She panted, struggling against their hold, and cursing under her breath. Cameron pressed in close, licking faster, and his finger teased the entrance to her body.

"You like being watched while he makes you come?"

Cameron closed his mouth over her clit and Elizabeth bucked, making a strangled sound as the orgasm swept through her. Cameron felt her heels digging into his shoulders as he kept sucking gently until Elizabeth's thighs tightened and her hand pushed at his head, warning him off.

He stood up, stretching his legs gingerly. Kneeling on the hard floor wasn't as easy as it used to be. Elizabeth was limp in John's arms, her chest rising and falling as she tried to get her breath back.

John looked up at Cameron with a smug look that faded quickly. John reached out and his fingers brushed against Cam's chin – wiping the wetness from Elizabeth off his mouth.

John brought his fingers to his own lips and sucked experimentally on them. Cameron swallowed audibly.

John grinned and leaned back, letting Elizabeth settle on the bed. Cameron sat on her other side, his hand sliding up her body slowly. Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked up at him. "So, what next? I'm assuming you're not done with us yet."

Cam hesitated a bit. Elizabeth was giving him more or less free reign over her body, but John was another story. He didn't want to freak John out, and honestly Cameron was still pretty thrown at the turn things were taking tonight. He laid down next to Elizabeth and brought his mouth to her breast and suckled on her nipple until it hardened against his tongue, buying himself a little time. She turned into him, lying on her side.

When he pulled away, John was mouthing kisses down Elizabeth's neck and her eyes were shut again. Cam chuckled, moving his hand down her belly and sliding a finger between her legs. "You told us, the other night, that you wanted us both," he began, even as Elizabeth shifted her body into his touch.

She just nodded at him.

Cameron went on, "Then John asked you if you meant one after the other or both at the same time."

Elizabeth's eyes widened as she realized what he was suggesting. John got there a second later. "Yes, I seem to recall some comments about anal sex that were particularly intriguing," he teased, his hand stroking lightly over Elizabeth's stomach, making her shiver.

All of them laughed at that. Elizabeth reached up and ran a hand through Cameron's hair, "So this is partly a question of logistics. Who goes where."

He nodded. "That's up to you." He knew what he wanted, but even if the other two were making this his "turn" he wasn't the one who would have two people fucking him at the same time. (Not that he would really object to that either. Probably. But not tonight.)

She craned her neck to look back at John. "I kind of want it like this," she said, a question in her voice. As if they might under any circumstances possibly say no.

John stared back at her for a second, then his lips crashed down on Elizabeth's mouth and he kissed her hard and deep. When Elizabeth finally pushed John away and gasped for air, Cameron sat up. "Do you have protection? And lube?"

Elizabeth gestured towards the nightstand. Cameron pawed through the contents, smirking as he saw what else Elizabeth had tucked away in the drawer. He made a mental note to bring that up later. Meanwhile, she and John crawled up the bed and settled nearer to the pillows and were essentially making out when Cameron rejoined them.

Watching them together was as hot as he'd remembered. Watching Elizabeth while he and John were both fucking her might just kill him.

Then again, he'd definitely die happy this way.

*~*~*~*

John's kisses were as changeable as he was. Elizabeth hadn't really been able to focus on it the other night, her mind having been a little fuzzy from vodka and caught up in the shock. Now, as Cameron collected what they would need, John laid down beside her and just kissed her. His fingers played with her hair, but all his attention was on her mouth, and the slow, thorough kisses made something in her melt. It wasn't just the heat of lust, it was that sense of safety she felt around both of them.

It soothed her nerves. Technically she shouldn't be nervous. Given what they'd all done together the other night, why should she be embarrassed or anxious about being with them again.

Fact and feeling weren't the same thing, of course. And when John's fingers began to explore down her back and then along the crease of her ass, Elizabeth remembered how long it had been since she'd done this.

Cameron was lying on his side, facing her, his hands gentle as he kissed and nuzzled her lips, her neck, her breasts. His palm slid between her legs again and she moved to give him more room, then jumped as a slick finger circled against her anus.

John's lips brushed her ear. "Just relax, Elizabeth."

She nodded. "I know. Just... go slow, okay?"

John's reply was a soft kiss just below her ear. His finger kept moving, circling slowly while Cameron's hand was gently massaging her folds. She knew they were both looking at her, but she couldn't make herself open her eyes. She really wished she'd asked Cameron to turn off the light on the nightstand, because even though it was small, she knew it was plenty of light for them to see her.

Her hips shifted into their hands at that thought, and they both increased the pressure they were exerting. The feeling of both sets of fingers exploring her body made her groan. She rocked in between them.

John's mouth began to move along her shoulder. His teeth scraped lightly along the delicate skin of her throat and then he was trailing kisses up her neck as his finger pressed against her harder. He didn't penetrate her yet, not until his lips reached her ear. "Ready?" he whispered.

Cameron's finger was sliding too lightly across her clit and her eyes fluttered open to find him looking at her with an evil little grin. He knew it wasn't enough pressure, the bastard.

"Yes," she told John and concentrated on not tensing her body as John's finger pushed into her. Her muscles spasmed reflexively against the intrusion, but after a few moments she relaxed again.

Cameron pressed his body against hers, kissing her deeply as their hands both kept moving. John carefully added a second finger and Cameron's hand moved down, his thumb sliding along her clit while his index finger slipped up inside of her. He groaned against her lips, muttering about how hot she was, and Elizabeth's leg moved up, hooking over his hip.

John's lips moved down her spine and Elizabeth squirmed as he went lower. Her body rubbed against Cameron's rather prominent erection and he tugged away from her to grab a condom. Meanwhile, John was tormenting her with wet kisses down her back while his fingers kept moving within her. His stubble scraped against her sensitive skin near her tailbone. Elizabeth was gripping the pillow tightly and when John bit down a little roughly on her backside, she whimpered. She realized from the sensation that he'd added another finger to her ass, working her open and ready for him.

Then Cameron's cock was rubbing between her legs. "Ready for me now, Elizabeth?" he asked in that low, sexy voice. She didn't want to think about what he could get her to do with that voice. He licked one of her nipples. "Ready to feel my cock inside you again?"

She couldn't manage to speak. She nodded and Cam slid into her slowly, like was savoring every millimeter. Elizabeth transferred her death grip to his shoulder. Cam held on to her hip, sighing as he stopped. "Goddamn, Elizabeth. You feel so incredible..."

She managed to pry her eyes open and crane her neck to see John settling close behind her. She felt the head of his cock nudging her ass as John licked her ear. But underneath the heat there was a little concern in his eyes. "Elizabeth? You okay?"

She drew in a deep breath and let it out, consciously trying to relax her body. "Yes. Just-"

"Slow," John said for her. His fingers stroked down the length of her spine, caressed her butt and then she could feel him grip his cock to guide himself. "Trust me, Elizabeth. I want to enjoy every second of this – you letting me fuck you like this, letting us both fuck you together..." She whimpered again. "Relax, Elizabeth. Just relax..."

For a moment she wasn't sure she could. John felt far too big to ever fit in comfortably on top of having Cameron buried inside her already. But John was kissing her skin and Cameron was whispering, "Let go, baby, just relax. We've got you," against her lips. Then with a tiny jolt the head of John's cock slipped into her and she and John both groaned.

He inched in deeper, careful and slow. Cameron held still, his eyes shut and his forehead pressed against hers.

When John stopped moving, Elizabeth could feel his breath, warm and damp against her shoulder. She moved her hand from Cam's shoulder and reached back, finding John's hip. He was nestled up against her back. Cameron's body was underneath her leg, the inside of her thigh against his hip. The slightest movement on her part and she could feel them both inside of her. "Oh God."

"Elizabeth?" She thought it was John asking, but couldn't be sure.

"I'm okay. It's just... you feel... _both of you_..."

Cameron chuckled in a dark tone and his fingers tickled her side lightly, making her squirm and then gasp. "She's incoherent. I guess we win."

She felt John grin against her neck. "Elizabeth always wins in the end, Cameron. You know that."

"But how many times?" Cameron's voice was like an electric charge to her nervous system, and he shifted and slid his cock out of her just a fraction, but it was enough to make her aware of how hot she was. "Remember what happened last time."

John began to move as well, a tiny slide out and then back in, testing the waters. "Like I could forget?" His fingers splayed against her belly, holding her in position so he could move.

Cameron's hand cupped her breast, his thumb flicking against her nipple. "I don't know if we can beat that."

"No harm in trying."

She appreciated what they were doing. The banter was a distraction from how they were exploring this arrangement, finding the right movements and the right rhythm in and out of her body. Elizabeth couldn't do much more than tremble and moan as they working in combination. She was past the ability to give any instructions. Soon it was going to be down to inhuman grunting.

She'd never felt anything like this before, not even the other night. This time, there was no alcohol clouding her mind. She felt exactly how big Cameron's cock was, thrusting into her steadily. The penetration was shallower than the last time, due to the angle, but that same angle meant his cock glanced across her clit every time he moved, and the teasing sensation would've made her frantic on its own.

Adding John into the mix was almost too much. She could feel each movement of his body as he slid in and out of her ass in counterpoint to Cameron's thrusts – never too deep, but he didn't need to go far to make them both shudder. John muttered in her ear as he left sloppy kisses along her neck, "You're so tight, Elizabeth. Tight, sweet little ass. I'm never going to see you without thinking of this again."

"We're not going to stop, Elizabeth," Cameron panted, pinching her nipple. "Not now, not ever."

They were always inside of her – one would withdraw carefully as the other penetrated her and the unhurried, perpetual sensation left her breathless and trembling with the ferocity of her arousal. Her body climbed and climbed, spiraling up, and she had to remind herself to breathe. Her fingers were leaving bruises on John's leg, she could tell, but she didn't seem to have the motor control to let go. Cameron's fingers on her breast and John's hand on her stomach were the only things anchoring her at this point.

Finally she couldn't stand it any more. She found her voice. "Harder," she begged. "Please. _Now_."

There was a momentary hesitation and she almost started cursing, then Cameron's hips jerked into her a little faster, a little rougher. John's hand pressed even more tightly against her belly and she knew somehow that he was fighting to stay in control of himself so he didn't risk hurting her, but he sped up to match Cameron, and Elizabeth knew she was going to come any second.

Before she could gulp out a warning, John's teeth bit down on her shoulder and Cameron's hips ground upwards, rubbing his shaft against her clit and Elizabeth was gone. Light burst behind her eyelids and her body jerked as the orgasm peaked. Her voice was a ragged sob and both men clamped their arms around her as she arched backwards as the first climax ended.

Both of them continued to move, and several more waves rolled through her body, not quite as intense as the first one but all of them stealing her breath and making her sweat and shudder and cry out.

Cameron came next. Even with the condom and her own disordered thoughts, Elizabeth heard the noises and felt the way his body tensed and he began to pump into her hard and deep for a minute. Distantly she realized John was moving in synch with her to accept Cameron's urgency so she wouldn't get hurt. With a rough grunting noise Cam gripped her tightly and stopped moving. She felt the twitching of his cock inside of her and another, mercifully smaller aftershock went through her.

That left John, who was clinging to her, his chest against her back and his hard cock still inside of her. As soon as Cameron relaxed, Elizabeth reached for John, her arm curling behind her to touch his face. As he had done their first time together, John intertwined his fingers with hers and began to move again. Elizabeth wasn't sure she had the strength to respond, but Cameron's body was a solid weight that provided enough resistance to keep her from moving too much. John kept the same steady, careful pace but she could feel him sweating and tensing until she knew he was about to lose control.

She couldn't do more than say his name, but through half-closed eyes, Elizabeth watched Cameron watch John coming, and saw when his arm moved so that he could touch John's face. She craned her neck and saw that John's eyes were closed, Cameron's fingers against his cheek, his thumb brushing over John's lips.

They sank into the bed, both of them carefully pulling out of her. Elizabeth winced before she could help it. Her body was going to be damned sore in the morning. She protested weakly when John nudged her until she realized he was tugging the blankets free. She let them cover her and yawned as both men curled up against her. Someone's fingers ended up in her hair, but she was too sleepy to look.

As she drifted off, she tried to tell herself this was the last time this could happen, but she knew it wasn't true.

The thought wasn't as frightening as she would've expected it to be.

*~*~*~*~*

 

He considered bolting out of the apartment, but he doubted he could locate all his clothes without waking Elizabeth and Cameron.

John had stepped on his own jeans when he went to the bathroom, nearly tripping in the process. After he relieved himself, he pulled on the pants, grabbed a glass of water and sat down on the couch. It was nearly four a.m. and he was tired, but he wasn't sure he could get back to sleep. At least he didn't have to work today.

Also, he wasn't sure what might happen if he went back to bed.

He wasn't sure what he _wanted_ to happen either, which was a bigger problem.

As usual, once the adrenaline and lust had worn off, the situation seemed a lot more complex and difficult than it had earlier. He didn't know what to make of Cameron's admission. Did that mean he was bi? Did kissing him make John bi now? He recoiled slightly at the thought. He'd never been sexually interested in another man in his life. Was he going to start having fantasies about Cam in the shower now?

And if he didn't, and Cameron was interested in him... John scrubbed a hand over his face. This was going to be an unholy mess.

"I can hear you thinking from over here, you know." He jumped. Elizabeth had come out into the living room without him hearing her. She was wrapped in a heavy fleece bathrobe. Since it was her apartment, she at least knew where all her clothes were.

She came and sat down beside him, taking a sip from his water glass and then tucking her bare feet underneath his leg to keep them warm. Her knees were up under her chin. Still keeping her voice low, she asked, "Do I want to know what you were thinking about?"

He shrugged. "You can probably guess."

She wrapped her arms around her legs. "I know. I have no idea how this is going to work." She shook her head. "I don't know if it _can_ work. Relationships are hard enough with two people."

His whole body tensed a little at that. Two nights of wild, athletic sex did not a relationship make in his mind.

Elizabeth just looked at him and even in the dark it felt like she was seeing straight through him. "Come on, John. We both know this is more than a fling. If nothing else, our friendships with each other are involved now."

He groaned, leaning his head back against the couch. He folded his arms over his bare chest, feeling slightly chilled.

Elizabeth tugged at something and then she was draping a blanket over him. "You looked cold." He let her tuck the blanket over him but he pulled her closer, so that she was under the blanket with him. He caught hold of her hand. Her fingers were long and thin and her skin was warm. He intertwined her fingers between his and Elizabeth squeezed slightly. He didn't let go.

He felt like he should say something, tell her something reassuring, but what came out was something else. "Maybe it'll burn itself out."

It was a mark of how uncertain she was about this whole thing that she didn't bristle with anger over that. Instead, Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. "Maybe."

"Novelty and deprivation?" Cameron asked. He padded into the living room, wearing both a shirt and his boxers. He settled down on John's other side and when John didn't move, he sighed and tugged part of the blanket across his lap. John just rolled his eyes and willed the slight tension from his body. This was more than slightly weird.

"It's a powerful combination," Elizabeth agreed. "I haven't been with anyone other than Simon in years and, well, you know how much fun _that_ was."

John had only dated a couple of women since his divorce, and in neither case had it lasted very long. He knew Cameron hadn't been seeing anyone for a couple of years either, though he was resolutely not going to wonder why right now. So, for all of them, loneliness might be a factor. Six months of lusting after Elizabeth helped, but John wasn't about to say that aloud.

Cam nodded to Elizabeth. "And getting to act out your fantasies is a hard thing to resist."

"Right," Elizabeth said, only looking slightly embarrassed. "But once some of those fantasies have been experienced, will it still be the same? I mean, will the impulse be stronger than the way this is all working outside the norm?" Then she laughed. "At the moment, I can hardly believe I'm sitting here in the dark having an existential conversation about this."

Cameron chuckled and John grinned. His thumb rubbed against Elizabeth's skin absently. "You realize," he said slowly, not looking at either of them. "We're all basically admitting this isn't over yet."

"We should've known it wasn't going to be that simple that first night," Cam observed, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"Sex never is," Elizabeth said wryly. Both John and Cameron opened their mouths to disagree but she sighed. "Sex with someone you actually like never is."

John couldn't really argue with that.

All three of them were quiet for a little while. John felt some of the tension begin to fade. His body was growing warmer sandwiched in between them – not in a dirty way, but just more comfortable than sitting in the cold night air alone.

At length, Elizabeth sighed. "I suppose there's really nothing we can do but see what happens. If we make some sort of declaration that this is it, it never happens again, you _know_ that won't work. A couple weeks and someone will snap."

"Forbidden fruit," John put in.

"Yep."

Cameron nodded. "And that would just be clichéd, and you know how I much I hate clichés."

John fidgeted. "I've never been very good at being patient." He could tell Cameron was thinking the same thing about himself.

Elizabeth shrugged. "What else is there to do? Polygamy is illegal in Colorado." Cameron actually bolted upright in alarm and Elizabeth cracked up.

"You're evil," John told her, pinching her side.

"You're just figuring that out?" She poked him back.

"Children," Cameron said and Elizabeth giggled and settled down again.

"Seriously, it's not like we've been following a script here all along. A sane woman never would've gotten into a car with the two of you at that hospital and told you where she lived and that she was brand new in town and had no friends nearby."

"Yeah, but you're glad you did," Cameron teased. There was a hint of worry in his voice, though.

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment and John resisted the urge to squirm, sure she was going to say something sappy and uncomfortable.

Then she got up and headed for the bedroom, calling back over her shoulder with a wicked grin, "So far."

John shared a fast look with Cameron and they both hurried after her.

 

*~*~*~*

_Six Months Later_

After two months of non-stop bickering about whether alphabetical order meant Mal Doran came before or after McKay, Elizabeth put her foot down and announced their new law firm would be named "Atlantis." When Rodney snorted that a lost city that sank into the ocean was hardly the right message to send to clients, Elizabeth shot him a look. "Don't you know, Rodney? Atlantis will rise again. It's about second chances."

Rodney gulped and said nothing more.

IOA was politely ecstatic to be rid of the three lawyers, but when Chuck and Peter both agreed to pay cuts (but better hours) to change jobs, the atmosphere in IOA's offices became rather frigid.

Atlantis Law Offices opened in June. Their first client was Dr. Radek Zelenka, who had started a small research firm doing contract work for larger companies in the Denver area and needed some legal help with government contracts that contained some of the most Byzantine non-disclosure agreements Elizabeth had ever seen. She sorted through the legalities, occasionally calling in help from her contacts in D.C., while Rodney explained the science parts in something resembling English.

If, in the interim, it became commonplace to call Rodney's house and hear her client answering the phone, Elizabeth kept that firmly out of her mind when talking business.

Some of the other, smaller companies in Denver's R&amp;D sector were seeking out Atlantis as well, including a genetics researcher named Dr. Beckett who Janet knew by reputation. Vala's insanely long list of contacts was helping. She spent most of her time recruiting clients. Rodney swore Vala had met, dated, dined or shared drinks with every businessman in Denver at some point. Elizabeth wasn't complaining.

Putting her own law firm together was more work than she'd had since her first years out of law school. Some days she wanted to rip her hair out, and more than once John and Cameron had spent an evening listening to her drink and rant about everything. There were moments she wasn't sure it would ever happen, but now she could walk through the doors of Atlantis' offices and know this was hers, her domain. She didn't answer to anyone anymore. It was a vastly liberating feeling.

Today, of course, was a Thursday, and Elizabeth hadn't had great luck with Thursdays, but the sun was shining. That morning she'd outwitted Steven Caldwell in a court proceeding – at least for the moment – and had celebrated with a chocolate croissant with her lunch. And now, she was leaving work early, because this weekend was Evan and Kate's wedding, and Kate's bachelorette party was tonight. Rodney waved sourly as she and Vala left the office gleefully to go pick up Janet and meet Teyla, Kate and Kate's cousin Jennifer, who was the maid of honor.

Elizabeth had told Cameron and John under no circumstances would she divulge the events of this evening, no matter what tactics they used. They were in charge of Evan's bachelor party, and Elizabeth was pretty sure she didn't want to know the details of that either.

The group of women went to dinner and then headed out to the first of a few clubs. Rumors were circulating about karaoke, so Elizabeth was monitoring her alcohol intake in case she got inveigled up onto a stage. Then she noticed Janet was drinking only club sodas. While Janet wasn't exactly a party animal, she usually enjoyed a good margarita or two.

The two of them were in a corner booth while the others were off dancing. Elizabeth nudged her friend's arm. "You're not driving tonight, you know."

"Hmm?"

Elizabeth frowned. "Janet?" She realized belatedly that Janet had been abnormally quiet all evening. "Is everything okay?" She knew Ronon had moved in with Janet a few weeks earlier. What if things weren't going so well? Janet had more than once talked about the age difference between them as a problem she had trouble overcoming.

Janet shook herself slightly. "I'm fine." She took a deep breath. "Can you keep a secret?"

Elizabeth eyed her. "No, I'm an attorney, I can't keep my mouth shut." Janet glared. Now her curiosity was roused. "What is it?"

Janet fidgeted, her hands in her lap. "I'm pregnant."

Elizabeth gaped. Then she snapped her mouth shut. Janet wasn't _that_ much older than her but still. She raised an eyebrow. "And how does Ronon feel about this?"

Janet huffed. "Annoyingly smug. And cheerful."

"And you're less so?" Elizabeth asked knowingly.

Janet made a helpless gesture. "It's early yet. There are no guarantees. I'm not even..." She groaned. "I have no idea if I can do this. He just moved in a few weeks ago. He's 15 years younger than me. What happens when this kid is in high school?"

"All her teachers will be hitting on him?" Elizabeth quipped, then regretted it slightly as Janet winced. She reached over and squeezed her hand. "Janet, he loves you. And I know he drives you crazy, but that's probably because you couldn't scare him off."

That got her another glare, but Janet rubbed her temple and sighed. "You're probably right. I just never thought I'd be in this situation."

Elizabeth considered pointing out that her own personal life had landed her in an arrangement nobody ever would've been prepared for, but she didn't. Most of their friends knew that things between her and the guys were not strictly platonic, but it was tough to find words to explain something nobody really had words for. They spent time together, they had sex, they were best friends.

It was a relationship, by most definitions of the word.

Just with more arms and legs than usual, as John had said at one point.

"So, what are you guys going to do now?" she asked.

Janet fiddled with her glass, looking nervous. "He wants to get married. Just go to a justice of the peace, quietly."

Elizabeth put on a stern face. "If you don't ask me to be one of your witnesses, I will buy that kid the loudest, most obnoxious toys I can find for its entire life."

Some of the tension left her friend. "Understood."

"What's going on?" Teyla asked, returning to the table flushed and out of breath from dancing.

Janet looked slightly panicked, but Elizabeth answered blithely, "Just plotting mayhem and destruction, as usual."

Teyla raised an eyebrow. Elizabeth wondered if Ronon had told her – they were partners, after all, and Elizabeth had seen first-hand what the bond between that kind of partnership produced.

John and Cameron still were awkward around each other at times, especially in bed. They were slowly beginning to ease into... _activities_ that were not exactly vanilla. It was hard watching John struggle against his instincts to run while Cameron's feelings got smashed every time John pulled away.

There'd been one horrible fight they'd had, back in February, when Elizabeth had been certain everything was done, not just the sex but all of their friendships. All of them were freaking out about what this relationship meant, and they were all scared, but that didn't stop any of them from saying all manner of hurtful things, including her.

She'd fled John's apartment and driven aimlessly around the highways of Denver so far into the night she had to stop and get gas.

When her eyes were drooping she finally went home, only to find John and Cameron asleep on her couch. They were fully dressed and clearly had been sitting and waiting for her when they drifted off.

It hadn't been easy, but they'd gotten past it. The next time there was an argument, all three of them had stopped themselves from letting it get that far.

Elizabeth still didn't know what would happen, whether in six weeks or six months they would be back to just friends or what. It wasn't easy, living without knowing what to expect. She'd had stability with Simon for a long time – too much of it, in the end, to keep that relationship alive. Her whole world had become unbalanced when they broke up and moving to Denver had been about finding balance again, on her own terms. Figuring out who she really was, and what she really wanted.

But she was starting to think maybe she liked the unpredictability a little too. Otherwise she wouldn't keep coming back for more.

Kate and Jennifer had come back to the table with Laura Cadman, who happened to be at the club with Jonas Quinn, who she was apparently dating. They sat down to hear about the wedding details. A song Elizabeth actually recognized was playing so she dragged Janet onto the dance floor. It wasn't too fast, so hopefully it wouldn't make Janet sick to her stomach. The last thing Janet needed tonight was untimely morning sickness.

When the song ended they went back to the table and Laura nudged Elizabeth's purse. "I think your phone was buzzing. Your purse started to move on its own."

Elizabeth pulled the phone out and discovered she had a message from John. When she opened it, there was a picture waiting for her.

It was obviously from a bar somewhere. John and Cameron were both holding beer bottles up towards whoever had taken the picture and John had his arm around Cameron's neck. They were both grinning like they'd just heard a good joke and were trying not to lose it again.

She smiled at the image for a moment before she sat back down, turned the phone on herself and Janet and took a picture. Janet didn't bother questioning who she was sending it to.

A few minutes later she got a text message from John. "No nudity? *pout*"

She typed back, "*shocked* I'm not that kind of girl!"

But she thought, before she even got any reply, that maybe she was.


End file.
